Campaign of the Indus: in a series of letters from an officer of the Bombay division

Book Jdi

DOBELL COLLECTION

C?fl. U^^ .//^../...^'^<^-^-^^^--

^ /.. :^. .^.

CAMPAIGN

OF

THE INDUS.

U>U*ia.tfi3X-.J w.^

CAMPAIGN

OF

THE INDUS

A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM AN OFFICER OF THE
BOMBAY DIVISION.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION,

A. H. HOLDSWORTH, ESQ.

[^viUtt Cop».]

1840.

.H4

205449
>'13

INTRODUCTION,

The circumstance of an English arni}^ penetrating
into Central Asia, through countries which had not
been traversed by European troops since Alexander
the Great led his victorious army from the Helles-
pont to the Jaxartes and Indus, is so strong a feature
in our military history, that I have determined, at the
suggestion of my friends, to print those letters re-
ceived from my son which detail any of the events
of the campaign. As he was actively engaged
with the Bombay division, his narrative may be re-
lied upon so far as he had an opportunity of witness-
ing its operations ; and it being my intention to have
only a few copies printed, to give to those friends
who may take an interest in his letters, I need not
apologize for the familiar manner in which they are
written, as they were intended by him only for his

VI INTRODUCTION.

own family, without an idea of their being printed.
A history, however, may be collected from them most
honom-able to the British soldiers, both Europeans
and natives of India. They shew the patience with
which, for more than twelve months, the soldiers bore
all their deprivations and fatiguing marches through
countries until then unknown to them, whether moving
through arid sands or rocky passes, under a burning
sun ; or over desolate mountains, amidst the most se-
vere frosts, with scarcely an interval of repose. Nei-
ther was their gallantry less conspicuous than their
patience, when they had the good fortune to find an
enemy who ventured to face them. Although the
circumstances which his letters detail might well de-
serve a better historian than my son, yet are they of
that high and honourable character, that they cannot
lose any part of their value by his familiar manner of
narrating them.

When I decided upon printing these letters, it be-
came a matter of interest to place before the reader a
short account of the countries in which the operations
of the army were conducted, as well as of the native
rulers who took part in, or were the cause of them ; in
order that the letters might be more clearly under-
stood by those friends who have not felt sufficiently
interested in the history of those countries to make

INTRODUCTION, Vll

any inquiries about them. But, before I do so, I
shall draw the attention of the reader to the army of
Alexander, to which I have before alluded.

Without entering into the causes which led to his
extraordinary conquests, predicted by Daniel as the
means ordained of God to overthrow the Persian em-
pire, then under the government of Darius, certain it
is that he conquered the whole of those countries
which extend from the Hellespont to the Indus, when
his career was arrested by his own soldiers. Having
overrun Syria, Egypt, Media, and Parthia, keeping
his course to the north-east, he not only passed the
Oxus, and forced his way to the Jaxartes, but, pressed
by the Scythians from its opposite shore, he crossed
that river, and beat them in a decisive battle. From
the Jaxartes he returned in a southern direction to-
wards the Indus, and having suffered the greatest
privations, and struggled with the most alarming dif-
ficulties during the time that he was engaged in the
conquest of those mountainous districts, he at length
reached Cabool, making himself master of Afghan-
istan. Here he appears to have halted for a consider-
able time, to refresh and re-equip his army, which,
with the addition of 30,000 recruits, amounted to
120,000 men.

At this place, Alexander first came upon the scene

vm INTRODUCTION.

of the campaign referred to in the following letters.
Here he meditated the invasion of India, intending to
march to the mouth of the Ganges ; but the conquest
of that country was destined for a nation almost un-
known in the days of Alexander, and lying far more
remote from it than Greece ; and, until the campaign
of 1839 drew our armies to the western side of the
Indus, the Sutlej was alike the boundary of Alex-
ander's conquests to the east, as of those of England
towards the west.

Alexander having prepared his army for this ex-
pedition, moved towards the Indus, taking many
strong places on his march. Having crossed that
river, the king of the country offered no resistance,
but became the ally of Alexander, who expected to have
found Porus, whose kingdom was on the other side of
the Hydaspes, equally ready to submit. But it re-
quired the utmost skill of Alexander to cross the
river, which he effected, and conquered Porus, after a
most severe struggle, with the loss of his renowned
charger, Bucephalus, and he was so pleased at the
magnanimity of Porus that he not only gave him back
his kingdom, but added several small states to it,
making him a sincere ally. Alexander then continued
his march towards the east, conquering all who op-
posed him, until he reached the banks of the Hy-

INTRODUCTION. IX

phasis (Sutlej), which he was about to cross, when
his progress was arrested by murmurs and tumults in
his camp. His soldiers declared their determination
not to extend his conquests, and entreated him to re-
turn. He then marched back to the Acesines, gave the
whole country as far as the Hyphasis to Porus, and thus
made him ruler of the Punjab. Alexander encamped
near the Acesines until the month of October, when
the fleet which he built, consisting of 800 galleys and
boats, being ready, he embarked his army and pro-
ceeded towards the Indus ; but before he reached that
river he came to two countries possessed by warriors
who united their armies to oppose his progress.
After beating them in many engagements, Alexander
attacked the city of the Oxydracse, into which the
greater part of those armies had retired. Here his
rash valour had nearly terminated his career : he was
severely wounded in the side by an arrow, from the
effects of which he was with difficulty restored to
health. He then descended the river, a portion of
his army marching on its banks, conquering every
nation that opposed him. About the month of July
he reached Patala (Tatta), where he built a citadel and
formed a port for his shipping. He then proceeded,
with part of his fleet, by the western branch of the river,
to discover the ocean. This he accomplished at

A 3

X INTRODUCTION.

great hazard, when he sacrificed to the gods (particu-
larly to Neptune), and besought them not to suffer
any mortal after him to exceed the bounds of his ex-
pedition. He then returned to join the rest of his
fleet and army at Patala, and to make arrange-
ments for his march to Babylon. He appointed
Nearchus admiral of his fleet, and having given him
orders to ascend the Persian Gulf to the Euphrates,
he commenced his march through Beloochistan,
leaving Nearchus to follow him as soon as the season
would permit. Alexander was more than sixty days
in reaching the frontiers of Persia, during which
time his army suffered such dreadful privations from
want of food, that the soldiers were obliged to eat
their own war-horses, and from the sickness conse-
quent upon such a state of distress, his army was re-
duced to less than one-half of the number which left
Patala. It is not necessary to follow him to Babylon,
or to describe the voyage of Nearchus, who, having
sailed up the Persian Gulf, united his forces to those
of his royal master in the river Pasi-Tigris, near
Susa. Enough, however, may be learned fi*om this
history to convince us that if such an army could be
conducted 2000 years ago from the Hellespont to
the Jaxartes and Indus, the march from the southern
shores of the Caspian Sea to Cabool would require

INTRODUCTION. XI

comparatively but very slight exertion, if those who
have the means should have the desire also to accom-
plish it.

I can say little of my own knowledge of the poli-
tical causes which gave rise to the war, as I am unac-
quainted with the affairs of India and the motives
which actuated its governors; but a brief outline
may be collected from a book lately pubHshed by the
Hon. Capt. Osborne, military secretary to the Go-
vernor-General, to which I shall refer, after making
some observations upon the countries through which
the operations of the army were conducted, and par-
ticularly on the situation of Afghanistan, in reference
to those persons who had before been, as well as those
who were, its rulers, when Shah Shooja was restored
by the British Government to its throne. These obser-
vations I have chiefly collected from the valuable
work of that enterprising officer Lieut. Burnes, which
he published after visiting those countries in 1831,
1832, and 1833.

The chief portion of the Bombay division of the
army engaged in the operations to which these letters
refer, landed at the Hujamree mouth of the Indus,
and marching through Lower Sinde, by Tatta, as-
cended the Indus by its western bank. On arriving
in Upper Sinde, it was found that Shah Shooja with

XU INTRODUCTION.

his contingent, as well as the Bengal division of the
army, had crossed the Indus en route from that Pre-
sidency, and had advanced towards Afghanistan,
and that the Bombay division was to follow them.
To effect this, the division marched through Cutch
Gundava, and the Bolan Pass, which is situated in
the mountains which divide the province of Sara-
war, in Beloochistan, as well as Cutch Gundava, from
Afghanistan. Having made their way through the
Bolan Pass, the army entered the Shawl district of
Afghanistan, and thence proceeded through the
Ghwozhe Pass to Candahar, Ghuzni, and Cabool ;
at which last-mentioned place Shah Shooja's eldest
son joined his father with some troops of Runjet
Sing's, which had crossed the Indus from the Punjab,
marching by Peshawur and the Kyber Pass. The
division of the Bombay troops under General Will-
shire, having remained at Cabool about a month, re-
turned to Ghuzni, and thence in a straight direction
to Quettah, leaving Candahar some distance on the
right ; Capt. Outram,Vho commanded a body of native
horse, preceding the main body of the division for the
purpose of capturing the forts, or castles, belonging
to those chiefs who had not submitted to Shah Shooja.
From Quettah, General Willshire moved with a part
of his division upon Kelat, and thence through the

INTRODUCTION. XIU

Gundava Pass and Cutch Gundava to the Indus,
where these troops were met by the rest of the divi-
sion, which came from Quettah by the Bolan Pass.
Hence they descended to Curachee to embark for their
respective quarters in India. The fate of one of the
regiments of the division, the 17th, as it is recorded in a
Bombay paper, is most distressing. They embarked at
Curachee for Bombay, and sailed in the morning with a
fair wind and a fine breeze, but before the night
closed in upon them the ship was fast aground upon
a sandbank, off the Hujamree branch of the Indus,
scarcely within sight of land. Everything was thrown
overboard to lighten the ship, but in vain ; she be-
came a total wreck, and settled down to her main
deck in the water. She fortunately, however, held
together long enough to allow all the men to be taken
on shore, which occupied three days, but with the
loss of everything they had taken on board with them.
The other regiments, we may hope, have been more
fortunate, as they were not mentioned in the paper
which gave this melancholy account of the 17th regi-
ment.

Sinde, the country through which the army first
passed, is divided into three districts, each governed
by an Ameer, the chief of whom resides at Hydrabad,
the second at Khyrpoor, and the other at Meerpoor ;

XIV INTRODUCTION.

and when Lieut. Burnes ascended the Indus, in 1831,
the reigning Ameers were branches of the Beloochistan
tribe of Talpoor. With these the chief of Kelat and
Gundava, Mehrab Khan (who was related by marriage
to the Ameer of Hydrabad), was more closely allied
than any other prince : like them, he had been for-
merly tributary to Cabool, and had shaken off the
yoke ; and, possessing a very strong country between
Afghanistan and Sinde, he became as usefiil as he had
at all times proved himself a faithful ally to the Sin-
deans. Shikarpoor, with the fertile country around
it, as well as Bukker, had formerly belonged to the
Barukzye family of Afghanistan, and, although they
still possessed Candahar, Cabool, and Peshawur, they
had in vain endeavoured to withdraw Mehrab Khan
from his alliance with the Sindeans, or to recover those
lost possessions.

To understand the political state of Afghanistan,
into which the army marched for the purpose of re-
storing Shah Shooja to its throne, it will be necessary
to go back to the early part of the last century, when
Nadir Shah had raised himself to the throne of Persia.
His name having become formidable as a conqueror,
he turned his thoughts to the conquest of India, and,
assuming sufficient pretexts for breaking the relations
of amity which he professed for the monarch of that

INTRODUCTION. XV

country, he determined to invade it, and for that pur-
pose began his march in 1738. Taking with him
some of the chiefs of Afghanistan, he crossed the
Punjab and entered Delhi. He there raised enormous
contributions, and seized upon everything worth taking
away ; amongst other things the far-famed Peacock
throne, in which was the renowned diamond called
" The Mountain of Light." The spoils with which
he returned to Persia were valued at nearly seventy
millions of pounds sterling. It is not necessary to
follow the history of Nadir ; it will be enough to say
that, amidst the confusion which followed his death,
Ahmed Khan obtained possession of part of his trea-
sure, amongst which was the great diamond. He es-
caped with it into Khorassan, where he made himself
master also of a large sum of money which was coming
to Nadir from India. Ahmed was a brave and intel-
ligent man, had been an officer of rank under the
Shah, and, being in possession of the treasure neces-
sary for his purpose, he proclaimed himself king, and
was crowned at Candahar " King of the Afghans."
Ahmed was of the Suddoozye family, which were but
a small tribe ; but he was greatly assisted by the power-
ful Barukzye family, whose friendship he justly valued
and made use of to his advantage : of this latter family
Hajee Jamel was then the chief. Ahmed knew how

XVI INTRODUCTION.

to conciliate the independent spirit of his Afghan sub-
jects, and by making frequent incursions on his neigh-
bours, kept ahve that spirit of enterprise which was
congenial to their feelings ; but from the time of his
death the royal authority began to decline, as Timour,
his son and successor, had neither the sense nor en-
terprise necessary to uphold it. Affairs became still
worse under the sons of Timour. Shah Zumaun
was of a cruel disposition, and wanted the education
necessary to the situation he was called upon to fill ;
his brothers, Mahmood and Shah Shooja, were not
belter disposed; and towards the Barukzye family,
who had been so instrumental in placing their grand-
father, Ahmed, on the throne, they conducted them-
selves not only most imprudently, but with dreadful
cruelty.

Shah Zumaun was succeeded by Shah Shooja, of
whom, although the chief person in the present drama,
little more need be said of this part of his history than
that, ignorant of the mode of governing such inde-
pendent tribes as the Afghans, his power was never
great, and, after the fall of his vizier, and the murder
of his comrade, Meer Waeez, it gradually declined,
until he lost his throne at Neemla, in 1809. He had
taken the field with a well-appointed army of 15,000
men; but was attacked by Futteh Khan, an experi-

INTRODUCTION. XVU

enced general, at the head of 2000 men, before the
royal army was formed for battle ; Akram Khan, his
vizier, was slain, and he fled to the Kyber country,
leaving the greater part of his treasure in the hands of
his conquerors. Shah Shooja had failed to conciliate
the Barukzye family ; Futteh Khan, their chief, had
therefore espoused the cause of the king's brother, Mah-
mood, and having driven Shah Shooja from his throne,
he placed Mahmood upon it, and accepted for himself
the situation of vizier. Under his vigorous administra-
tion, the whole of the Afghan country, with the excep-
tion of Cashmere, submitted to the dominion of the new
sovereign. The Shah of Persia, anxious to possess
himself of Herat, sent an army against it, but was de-
feated in his object, andPIerat was preserved to Mah-
mood by the successful exertions of Futteh Khan.
No sooner, however, was Mahmood thus firmly esta-
blished in his dominions, than his son Kamran be-
came jealous of the man who had raised him to the
situation, and had secured to him the kingdom ; he
therefore determined to effect the ruin of the vizier.
The prince was not long in gaining over his father to
his views ; and Futteh Khan being at Herat, Kamran
seized on his person and put out his eyes. In this
state he kept him prisoner for about six months, dur-
ing which time the brothers of the vizier, imtated at

XVUl INTRODUCTION.

the conduct of Kamran, began to show signs of disaf-
fection. Mahmood ordered Futteh Khan to be brought
before him in the court of his palace, and accusing
the brothers of the vizier of rebeUion, directed him to
bring them back to a state of allegiance. The vizier,
in the dreadful condition to which he had been re-
duced, replied to the demand of Mahmood, '^ What
can an old and blind man do ?" when, by the order
of the king, the courtiers cut the vizier to pieces, limb
after limb : his nose and ears were hacked off; neither
did he receive his death blow until not a member of
his person was left upon which they could inflict tor-
ture. With the fall of his vizier the king's power
rapidly declined, and he fled to Herat, virtually yield-
ing up the rest of his kingdom. He died in 1829, his
son, Kamran, succeeding to the limited government
of that portion only of his former dominions. Upon
the flight of Mahmood to Herat, the horrid murder of
their brother threw the whole of the Barukzye family
into open revolt, the eldest of whom, Azeem Khan, re-
called Shah Shooja from his exile. From the time
Shah Shooja lost his throne, he had been first a cap-
tive in the hands of the son of his former vizier, and
then a pensioner on the bounty of the Maharajah, at
Lahore, who in return extorted from him the famous
diamond, '^ The Mountain of Light," and other jewels,

INTRODUCTION. XIX

which he had brought away with him when he fled
at Neemla. He then made his escape from the Maha-
rajah, and found protection and support from the Bri-
tish government of India. Upon the summons from
Azeem Khan, Shah Shooja immediately hastened to
Peshawur ; where, before his benefactor had time to
meet him, he practically displayed his ideas of royalty
so unwisely, and so insulted some of the friends of the
Barukzye family, that the whole party took offence,
and they at once rejected him, and placed his brother
Eyoob on the throne.

Eyoob was but a puppet king, the tool of the family
who raised him to the government ; Azeem Khan, who
was appointed his vizier, being in truth the ruler. Se-
veral of the young princes who aspired to the throne
were delivered over to Eyoob, who put them to death.

Shooja, driven from Peshawur, retired to Shikarpoor,
which the Ameers of Sinde ceded to him ; where, in
place of conducting himself with prudence, he was so
addicted to low intrigue with those about him, that
his enemies availed themselves of this propensity to
effect his ruin, and drove him from Shikarpoor, when,
crossing the Indus, he fled through the desert by
Juydalmeer, and returned to Loodiana. " The fitness,"
says Lieut. Burnes, " of Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk for
the station of a sovereign seems ever to have been

XX INTRODUCTION.

doubtful. His manners and address are highly
polished, but his judgment does not rise above medio-
crity ; had the case been otherwise, we should not
now see him an exile from his country and his throne,
without a hope of regaining them, after an absence of
twenty years, and before he has attained the fiftieth
year of his age,"

The civil wars which had thus so frequently oc-
curred in Afghanistan weakened the resources of the
country and its means of defence. Runjet Sing
availed himself of the advantage which this state of
affairs presented to him, and obtained possession of
Cashmere ; when, continuing his conquests, he crossed
the Indus, and made himself master of Peshawur,
burning its palace, and laying the country under tri-
bute. Azeem Khan made a precipitate retreat before
the army of the Sikhs towards Cabool, without attempt-
ing to arrest their progress, and was so stung with re-
morse at the weakness of his conduct that he died on
reaching that city. With the death of Azeem the royal
authority was extinguished. The king fled to Lahore,
and lived under the protection of his conqueror.
Herat alone remained in the possession of one of the
Suddoozye family. The brothers of the late vizier
seized his son, and deprived him of his treasure and
Ms power. The kingdom was then divided between

INTRODUCTION. XXI

them. Cabool fell into the hands of Dost Mahomed ;
Peshawur and Candahar were held by two of his
brothers ; the Sindeans threw oiF their yoke, and re-
fused to pay tribute ; Balk was annexed to the domi-
nions of the King of Bokhara ; the richest portion of
the provinces having fallen into the possession of the
Sikhs. In seventy-six years from the time that Ahmed
Shah was crowned at Candahar, the Dooranee mo-
narchy again ceased to exist.

As I have given the character of Shah Shooja, it
will be interesting to quote that of Dost Mahomed,
from the same author. " He is unremitting in his at-
tention to business, and attends daily at the court-
house, with the Cazee and Moollahs, to decide every
cause according to law. Trade has received the
greatest encouragement from him, and he has derived
his own reward, since the receipts of the custom-
house of the city have increased fifty thousand rupees,
and furnished him with a net revenue of two lacs of
rupees per annum. The merchant may travel with-
out a guard or protection from one frontier to another,
an unheard-of circumstance in the time of the kings.
The justice of this chief aifords a constant theme of
praise to all classes. The peasant rejoices at the ab-
sence of tyranny, the citizen at the safety of his
home, the merchant at the equity of his decisions and

XXll INTRODUCTION.

the protection of his property, and the soldier at the
regular manner in which his arrears are discharged."
" One is struck with the intelligence, knowledge, and
curiosity which he displays, as well as at his accom-
plished manners and address."

To this short sketch of Afghanistan, and of the per-
sons connected with its political history, I will add
some extracts from the work of the Hon. Capt. Os-
borne, because they explain the circumstances which
led to the campaign of the Indus, and to the restora-
tion of Shah Shooja to the throne of Cabool. He
says, " In May, 1838, a complimentary deputation
was sent by Runjet Sing to the Governor-General at
Simla, consisting of some of the most distinguished
Sikh chiefs, who were received with all the honours
prescribed by oriental etiquette. Shortly afterwards.
Lord Auckland resolved to send a mission to the
court of Lahore, not merely to reciprocate the com-
pliments of the Maharajah, but to treat upon all the
important interests which were involved in the exist-
ing state of political affairs in that quarter of the
world. The recent attempts of the Persians on Herat,
the ambiguous conduct of Dost Mahomed, and the
suspicions which had been excited with respect to the
proceedings and ulterior designs of Russia, rendered
it of the greatest importance to cement the alUance

INTKODUCTION. XXUl

with Runjet Sing, and engage him to a firm and
effective co-operation with us in the estabhshment of
general tranquiUity, the resistance of foreign encroach-
ment, and the extension of the benefits of commerce
and the blessings of civilization. Accordingly, W. H.
Macnaghten, Esq., was deputed on the mission to the
Maharajah, accompanied by Dr. Drummond, Capt.
Macgregor, and the Hon. W. Osborne, military secre-
tary to the Governor-General.

" The object of the Governor-General's mission to
Lahore having been accomplished, and the concur-
rence, and, if necessary, the co-operation of Runjet
Sing, in the restoration of Shah Shooja, secured, Mr.
Macnaghten repaired to Loodiana, for the purpose of
submitting to the Shah the treaties that had been con-
cluded, and announcing to him the approaching
change in his fortunes. The envoys seem to have
been much struck with the majestic appearance of the
old pretender, especially with the flowing honours of
a black beard descending to his waist, always the most
cherished appendage of oriental dignity. He had
lived for twenty years in undisturbed seclusion, if not
' the world forgetting,' certainly ' by the world forgot,'
consoling himself for the loss of his kingdom in a do-
mestic circle of six hundred wives, but always ' sigh-
ing his soul' towards the mountains and valleys of

XXIV INTRODUCTION.

Afghanistan, and patiently awaiting the kismet, or
fate, which was to restore him to his throne. The
preparations thenceforward went rapidly on. The
contingent raised by the Shah was united (more for
form than use) to the British force, and in three
months the expedition began its operations."

But before I conclude this introduction to the letters,
which detail the results of these treaties with the Ma-
harajah, and the march of Shah Shooja to Cabool, as
I have spoken of the leading characters of Afghanistan,
I may be permitted to say a few words about the
persons through whose exertions the Shah has been
restored to the throne of that country — the officers of
the British army ; and I do so the more anxiously,
because the naval and military glory of our country,
which in my early days was the theme of every song,
is now seldom heard of in society, and those gallant
services appear to be nearly forgotten, which during a
long protracted state of warfare, within our own recol-
lection, placed England in a position to dictate her
own terms of peace to the world : — a state of society
which encourages a certain class of persons the more
effectually to abuse the military profession, and to
mislead their deluded followers, by clamouring about
the expense of the army, and the aristocratic bearing
of its members, that they may the more readily carry

INTEODUCTION. XXV

out their own schemes of personal vanity and demo-
rahzing poHtical economy.

It is the pecuhar featm'e of the British army, to
which we are indebted for its high and honourable
bearing, that the sons of the first families in the land
are ever anxious to bear arms under its standards,
looking not to pecuniary emolument, but to those
honours which military rank and professional attain-
ments can procure for them; whilst the first com-
mands and the highest stations in the service are
filled without distinction from every gi'ade in so-
ciety. It is this happy mixture which induces that
high sense of honour, so peculiarly characteristic of
our service ; that acknowledged distinction between
the officers and the privates ; that true discipline
which, tempered with justice and kindly feeling,
wins the respect of the soldier, and induces him to
place that reliance upon his commander everywhere
so conspicuous, whether in the camp or field of
battle. But this high feeling in the army causes
no additional expense to the country ; the charge
is altogether a deception. Let the following sketch
of a young soldier's life of the present day, as
applicable to others as to himself, answer the charge
of these politicians.

He was educated for the highest walk of the legal

B

XXVI INTRODUCTION.

profession, and had nearly prepared himself for the
university, when he decided to change his course and
go into the army. The Commander-in-chief placed
his name amongst the candidates for commissions, and
he went to Hanover, where, after he had made him-
self master of the German language, his Royal High-
ness the Duke of Cambridge kindly gave him a com-
mission in the Yagers of the Guard, better known in
England, in the Peninsula, and at Waterloo, as the
Rifles of the German Legion. Being only a volun-
teer in the regiment, he could not receive pay from
the government ; he was, therefore, at very consider-
able personal expense to keep his proper standing
with his brother officers ; and as soon as he had ac-
quired all the military knowledge that he was likely to
get in the regiment in time of peace, he obtained
leave to return to England ; and, as he had not any
immediate expectation of a commission, he visited
France, to make himself more perfect in the French
language. After this, he was allowed to purchase a
commission in the 2nd regiment, or Queen's Royals ;
and he embarked to join that corps in India. His let-
ters will shew what that regiment, in common with
others, have endured during a campaign of fifteen
months in Central Asia, their privations and expenses ;
and when his second commission was paid for, during

INTRODUCTION. XXVU

that campaign, he found himself at its close, at the
age of twenty-five, a lieutenant on full pay, the amount
of which, if he was in England, would be far short of
the interest of the money which has been expended
in his commissions and education, and with fifteen
lieutenants still above him on the roll of his re-
giment.

It will be seen by his letters, and it is confirmed by
the official despatches of the Commander-in-chief, that
the company to which he was attached (the light
company of the Queen's) led the storming party
at Ghuzni. He was shot through the arm and
through the body, and left for dead at the foot of the
citadel at Kelat, whilst endeavouring to save the lives
of some Beloochees who were crying for mercy. And
for these services he is to be rewarded with a medal,
by Shah Shooja, for Ghuzni, and for the capture of
both places he has the full enjoyment of the highest
gratification that a soldier can feel — the consciousness
that he has done his duty to his country, and, let me
hope, in the act of mercy in which he suffered, his duty
to his God as a Christian. But he is not a soH-
tary example of such good fortune. No one who
was wounded and survived may have been nearer
death than himself, yet are there others who have
B 2

XXVUl INTKODUCTION.

done more, and suffered more, as the history of the
army of the Indus would bear ample testimony.

Let me then ask, in behalf of the British officer,
when he is lightly spoken of as a man, or when the
expenses of the army are cavilled at, on which side is
the debt — on his, or on that of his country ?

A. H. HOLDSWORTH.

JBrookhill, — Mat/, 1840.

1^= It may be right to draw the attention of the reader to a cir-
cumstance which, at first sight, may appear singular — that the same
letters frequently contain reports quite contradictory to each other.
It should therefore be borne in mind that such letters were probably
written at different times, as the writer found opportunity ; who,
being anxious that his family should know all that passed as well in
the camp as in the field, preferred leaving each report in the way in
which it was circulated at the time of his writing it, rather than cor-
rect it afterwards, as the truth might turn out. Such letters shew
the situation in which an army is placed on its landing in a new
country, where no account of the movements of the inhabitants can
be relied upon, and the heavy responsibility which attaches to the
ofiicers who are entrusted with its command.

CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS,

LETTER I.

On board the ship Syden,
Off the mouth of the Indus, Nov. 27th, 1838.

My dear Fatheh, — We left Belgaum on the 22nd
of last month, and arrived at Bombay on the first of
this ; and we started from Bombay on the 18th, for
this place. I had intended to write from Bombay,
but everything was in such a state of confusion and
bustle whilst we were there, that I literally could find
no time or place for doing so. We are now at anchor
off one of the mouths of the Indus, and have had a
delightful voyage. Our ship is a very nice one, of
750 tons, belonging to a Swede, who is an excessively
good fellow, and has treated us very well.

Sir John Keane is already arrived in the steamer
Semiramis, and also one of the native regiments. Our
Bombay force consists of 5500 men, of which 2000
are Europeans — viz,, 500 of the Queen's, and 500 of

2 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

H. M. 17 th regiment, one squadron of the 4 th Light
Dragoons, with foot and horse artillery. The rest of
the force is composed of native regiments, horse and
foot. We shall not land, I think, until to-morrow
evening, as we are almost the only ship that has yet
arrived. The infantry are divided into two brigades,
and the cavalry form another by themselves. Our
brigade (the first) consists of the Queen's, and the 5th
and 19th regiments of Native Infantry, commanded by
our worthy Colonel, now General Willshire, C.B. ;
the other brigade is commanded by a Company's
officer. We have to go in boats about thirty miles, it
is said, up the river, before we finally march. Where
it is I am perfectly ignorant; however, some place
between this and Hydrabad, whence we shall march
as far north as Shikarpoor, where we are to form a
junction with the Bengal troops, 13,000 in number,
under Sir H. Fane. What our destination will be
after that I know not ; whether we shall advance with
the Bengalees upon Herat, or form a corps of reserve
on the Indus.

The country between this and Shikarpoor belongs
to the Ameers of Sinde. They were very restive at
first, when they heard of our intention to march
through their country, and threatened to oppose our
progress ; but I believe they have since thought better
of it ; however, I do not think that they can do any-
thing against us: time will soon shew. We have
been excessively crowded on board: twenty- six officers.

LETTER I. S

I have been obliged to sleep on the poop every night,
which, when the dew was heavy, was by no means plea-
sant. I hope we shall go further than Shikarpoor, as I
should like very much to see Cabool, Candahar, and
all that part of the world, which so few Europeans
have visited.

What is the clause of all this bustle and war I
hardly know myself, and, at all events, it is too long
to make the subject of a letter; I must therefore
refer you to the papers for it ; but I have heard from
old officers that for the last twenty years the Com-
pany have been anxious to establish themselves west
and north of the Indus. It is not likely, therefore,
now that they have such an opportunity, that they
will let it slip, so that perhaps we may he quartered
there for the next two or three years. How it will
turn out I know no more than the man in the moon :
a soldier is a mere machine, and is moved by his supe-
riors just as a chessman by a chess-player. Should
there be any skrimmaging, our men are in high spirits,
and will, I think, soon make the Ameers put their pipes
in their pockets. Ours is the first European army that
has been on the Indus since the time of Alexander.

I was obliged to sell my horses and other things on
leaving Belgaum, at a dead loss. I intend buying
another horse when we land in Sinde, as I am told
we can get good ones very cheap there. This is a
regular case of here to-day and there to-morrow : per-
haps my next letter may be dated from Cashmere —

B 3

4 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

who knows ? I felt rather sorry at leaving Belgaum ;
we were all of us excessively rejoiced to get out of
Bombay. The report at first was, that we were to
garrison it for the next two or three years, and we
were therefore very glad when we found that was not
to be the case. Now, it is said, there is a chance of
our going into Persia ; but I do not think that we
shall. The man waits to lay the cloth on the cuddy
table, where I am writing, so I must conclude for the
present.

Nov, 28th. — The regiment is beginning to disem-
bark right in front. The Grenadiers are now going
into the boats of the natives that are to take them up
the river. Since I wrote yesterday, I have heard
all the news relative to our disembarkation. We
are to go fifteen miles up the river in native
boats to a place called Yicur, where we form our
first camp ground. We are to remain there for a
week or ten days, in order to collect camels, bullocks,
&c., for the transportation of om' baggage. We have
to pass a very dangerous bar in getting to this place,
where several boats have been wrecked ; but we have
fine large ones. From all accounts, the Ameers are
now peaceably disposed, except one fellow, who, we
hear, is inclined to be rather obstreperous ; but I think
the sight of our force will soon bring him to his
senses. There are, however, a set of men who live on
the mountain borders of Sinde, called Beloochees,
the eastern inhabitants of Beloochistan, who are a

LETTER I. d

robber, free-and-easy kind of people, who may give us
some trouble, in endeavouring to walk oflP with part of
our baggage, &c.

I intend to keep a journal of what occurs, and will
write by every opportunity. I think I have now men-
tioned everything that I have heard relative to this
grand expedition : except, by-the-bye, that Sir Henry
Fane has denominated the force as " The army of the
Indus,"' and ours, the Bombay branch of it, as " The
corps d'armee of Sinde." There is a grand title for
you ! I have nothing more to say ; and as I must be
looking after my traps previous to disembarking, I must
conclude with best love to you, and all at home.

Your most affectionate son,

T. W. E. HOLDSWORTH.

P. S. — I must trust this to the captain of the vessel,
giving him instructions to put it into the Bombav
post when he returns, so that it is equally doubtftil
when you may receive it. He is an excessively o^ood
fellow, the captain : and we are going to make him a
present of a silver goblet, worth 35/., for his attentions
to us whilst on board his ship.

CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

LETTER IL

Perminacote, five miles from Vicur,
right bank of the Hujamree,
one of the branches of the Indus,

December 8th, 1838.

My dear Kitty, — I wrote to my father, about ten
days ago, from the ship in which we came here,
stating what I then knew about this expedition ; but
having since received your letter, and my father's,
dated Sept. 4th, I cannot think of going on this bloody
campaign without first answering yours. Things look
now a little more warlike. The Ameers have endea-
voured to cut off everything like a supply from this part
of the country, and we have to depend in a great
measure, at present, on the supplies brought by the
shipping. We have nothing in the shape of convey-
ance for our baggage. We expected two thousand
camels and five hundred horses here for sale ; but
they are not to be seen at present, and where they are,
or when they will arrive, no one knows. News has
been received, it is said, from Pottinger, the Com-
pany's political agent at Hydrabad, the principal town

LETTER II. 7

of the Ameers, that they have called in their army, con-
sisting of 20,000 Beloochees, as they tell Pottinger,
" for the purpose of paying them off;" but he says it
looks very suspicious, and that they are also fortifying
the various towns on the Indus. He has been ex-
pected here for the last two or three days, but has not
yet arrived. Report also says that he has been fired
at in his way down.

We are kept in the most strict discipline, and have
a great deal to do. Out- lying and in-lying pickets
every night, the same as if we were in the presence of
an enemy. This is a very pleasant climate at pre-
sent, though excessively cold at night-time, as we
feel to our cost when on picket, sleeping in the open air,
with nothing but our cloaks to cover us ; and some
nights the dew is excessively heavy, which is very un-
healthy, and has laid me up for the last few days with
an attack of rheumatism. However, I hope to be
out of the sick list to-day. There is such a sharp,
cutting, easterly wind, that I can hardly hold my pen.
It averages from 80 to 84 in the shade during the
hottest part of the day, but that is only for about two
hours. However, in the hot season it is worse than
India; and we have proof here, even at this time, of
the power of the sun occasionally ; so I hope that we
shall push on for Shikarpoor, and join the Bengal
army, under Sir H. Fane, as quickly as possible, as
we shall then have some chance of getting to Cabool,
which is said to be a dehghtful climate.

8 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

We are still totally ignorant of our future proceed-
ings, except ;^at I have stated above. We are in
great hopes that we have not been brought here for
nothing, and that we may have a chance of seeing
a few hard blows given and taken ere long. Hydrabad
and loote is what is most talked about at present. It
will, however, be a most harassing kind of warfare, I
expect, as the force of the Ameers consists of Arabs
and Beloochees ; a regular predatory sort of boys, ca-
pital horsemen, but not able, I should think, to en-
gage in a regular stand-up fight. I think their war-
fare will consist in trying to cut off a picket at night,
breaking through the chain of sentries,,and endea-
vouring to put the camp in confusion, &c. &c. ; so
that the poor subalterns on picket will have anything
but a sinecure there ; however, it will be a capital
way of learning one's duty in the field. By-the-bye,
I forgot to tell you, amongst other rumours of war,
that an Ameer was down here a few days ago to
obtain an interview with Sir J. Keane, who refused to
see the Ameer, or to have anything to do with him,
and told him that he would soon talk to him at
Hydrabad.

Our force is now nearly all arrived, all except the
Bombay grenadier regiment, which is to form part of
ours, (i. e., the first brigade,) and not the 19th regi-
ment, as I told my father. We have now here two
squadrons of H. M. 4th Light Dragoons, the Queen's,
and the 17th regiment. The native regiments are,

LETTER IL 9

the Grenadiers, the 5th, the 19th, and the 24th;
there is also a due proportion of horse and foot artil-
lery, together with some native cavalry, making in all
5500 fighting men. We are nov^r about fifteen miles
from the sea, and v^e got up quite safe, although
there is a very dangerous bar to cross, and all the
boats v^^ere not so lucky as ours, as the horse artil-
lery lost fifteen horses ; and a boat belonging to a mer-
chant of Bombay went down, in which goods to
the amount of one thousand rupees (lOOZ.) were
lost.

Our camp presents a very gay appearance — so many
regiments collected together; and altogether I like
this sort of campaigning work very well, although I
expect that we shall be very hard put to it when we
march, if we do not get more means of conveyance.
The wind is blowing such intolerable dust into the
tent that I can hardly write. The captain of the
vessel which brought us from Bombay came up here
last night, and returns to-day about eleven o'clock,
and sails this evening for Bombay ; I shall give him
this letter to take, so that you and my father will re-
ceive my letters at the same time. As long as I keep
my health I do not care where we go or what we do.
The doctor has just come in and put me off the sick
list. It is getting very near eleven o'clock, and the
captain will be off directly, so that I must conclude
my letter, hoping you will, for this reason, excuse its

10 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

shortness; and with best love, &C.5 to all at home,
believe me ever your most affectionate brother,

T. W. E. HOLDSVS^ORTH.

p. S. I have not any horse at present, which I find
a great inconvenience. I sold what I had at Bel-
gaum, before I left it, at a dead loss, as I expected to
get plenty here on my arrival, but have been wo-
fully disappointed. There were some splendid crea-
tures for sale at Bombay, which was very tempting,
but they asked enormous sums for them. I wonder
where I shall eat my Christmas dinner ! This is
the first European army that has been on the Indus
since the time of Alexander the Great.

11

LETTER III.

Camp near Tatta, four miles from the Indus,
January 1st, 1839.

My dear Father, — I write to wish you a happy
new year on this the first day of 1839, which, if it
turns out as its opening prognosticates, is Kkely to be
a very eventful one for me, if I do not get knocked
on the head or otherwise disposed of. I wrote to you
from the ship Syden, about the 28 th of November,
and to Kate from our last station at Bominacote, on
the right bank of the Hujamree, about the 12th of last
month, both which letters will, I expect, leave Bombay
to-day by the overland mail for England ; but as an-
other mail will leave on the 19th, and I thought you
would be anxious to learn as much of our movements
&c. as possible, I dare say the present letter will
not be amiss.

We remained at our old encampment, Bominacote,
until the 26th of last month, and I picked up my
health very fast there, and was able to enjoy myself

12 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

shooting a great deal, particularly the black partridge,
which is an uncommonly handsome bird, and much
bigger than the English, The 2nd brigade of in-
fantry, consisting of H. M. 17th regiment, the 19th
and 23rd regiments Native Infantry, under the com-
mand of General Gordon, a Company's officer, to-
gether with the 4th Light Dragoons, a regiment of
Native Cavalry, and one troop of horse artillery, left
the aforesaid place on the 24th, with Sir John Keane
and his escort ; and the first brigade, consisting of
ourselves, the 1st Grenadiers, and 5th regiment Native
Infantry, under the command of our chief. General
Willshire, left on the 26th. I was on out-lying picket
the night before, (Christmas night,) and a very curious
way it was of passing it. The first part of the night, till
twelve o'clock, was exceedingly fine and beautiful, and,
as I lay on the cold ground, my thoughts travelled
towards poor old Devonshire, and I could not help
fancying in what a much more comfortable way you
must be spending it at home, all snug, &c. at Brook-
hill. After twelve, the strong northerly wind, which
blows with great force at intervals this time of the
year in this country, sprung up, and it soon got in-
tensely cold. Towards two I forgot myself for about
half an hour, and nodded on my post, and on awaken-
ing I was taken with what I am sure must have been
a slight attack of cholera. I was stone cold, parti-
cularly my arms, hands, legs, and feet, and suffered
pxcruciating pains in my stomach, till nature relieved

LETTER III. 13

me, which she was kind enough to do uncommonly
frequent. I had luckily some brandy with me, of
which I drank, I should think, half a bottle down
without tasting it ; but it did me a great deal of good
at the time, although I have not been well since, and
am still very far from being so. Our camels, of which
I had two, were furnished us by the commissariat, and
we ought to have had them at four o'clock on the
day before : but, like everything else, we did not get
them till four o'clock the morning we marched, about
an hour before we turned out. I had to trust entirely
to Providence with regard to mine, as to whether I
should get them or not, as I was on outlying picket,
and could not attend to them, and I had just two
minutes, after coming from picket in the morning, to
get a mouthful of villanous coffee, when I was obliged
to fall in with my company, which formed the advanced
guard of the brigade, and march off in double quick
time, leaving all to chance. My poor stomach wanted
something most awfully to stop its proceedings, but it
was totally out of the question, as General Willshire
hurried us off at a slapping pace ; luckily, the march
was only eight miles, so it did not fatigue me much : I
marched on foot the whole of it, as I could not get my
pony in the hurry of starting. We got nothing to eat
till two o'clock, when part of our mess things arrived,
and we pitched into whatever we could get. This
march, though, was by far the most pleasant, as we
had a good firm tract of country to pass over, and no

14 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

sand. The " rouse" sounded at five, and we marched
again at half-past six. This night I was on in-lying
picket, and was obliged to pass it in harness, and
ready to turn out at a moment's notice, although
awfully tired. We had a very unpleasant march, as
the north winds got up soon after we started, and
blew the dust and sand right into our eyes ; we had,
however, being on the advance guard, comparatively
easy work, as there were only two sections with each
officer : the poor colunm suffered severely. This day,
however, was paradise compared to the next, which
was eighteen miles, through an uninhabited sandy
desert, with a few tamarisk shrubs and no water, ex-
cept a few stagnant pools, which was the cause of the
march being so long, there being no place for encamp-
ment. General Willshire, however, made the best of
a bad matter, and sent on the night before to a place
about half way, and the least unchristian-like spot he
could find, half the men's rations for the next day,
together with the bheesties (or water carriers) and the
men's grog, &c., with orders for the cooks to have
these rations cooked and ready for the men as soon
as they marched in ; so that on arriving at the ground
we piled arms and formed a curious sort of pic-nic in
the middle of the desert. We halted here about an
hour, and lucky it was that the men got the means of
recruiting their strength in this manner, as the latter
part of the march was a terrible teaser. We marched
off fi:om this place about twelve. Although we had

LETTER III, 15

found the morning pleasant enough, with a fine
bracing breeze, yet in the afternoon, about half an hour
after starting, the wind went down, and the sun shone
out terribly ; the sand in some parts was half knee
deep, and although there was no breeze to blow it in
our faces, yet it rose from the trampling of so many
feet in successive dense columns, and completely en-
veloped the whole brigade, almost blinding the men,
so that they could hardly see the man before them,
and getting into their noses and mouths so as nearly
to suffocate them ; however, they bore it manfully,
and marched straight through it like Britons. Our
encampment that night was at a place called Golam
Shah, on the Buggaur, one of the branch streams of
the Indus. We found that the second brigade had
only left it the same morning, having been obliged to
halt there the preceding day ; and General Willshire
found a letter from Sir John Keane, advising a halt
there for the following day, which we accordingly did,
and a precious comfortable day we had. I got off my
pony at the close of this day's march with a dreadful
headache, and had to wait for an hour till Halket's
tent and kit, with whom I am doubling up, arrived.
His servants brought me the delightful intelligence
that my camel man had bolted with his camels at our
last encampment, and that my things were all left there
on the ground, with my servant, and that it was quite
uncertain when they would be up ; in fact, it seemed
exceedingly doubtful whether they would arrive at all.

J 6 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

However, they did come in at last, but very late, on
three ponies, two bullocks, and one donkey, which
were the only things my boy could get, and for which
I had to pay considerably. I turned in as soon as I
could; and the next day, which was a most wretched
one, I was very unwell. This place, Golam Shah,
must, I think, be one of the most wretched places
in the whole world, situated as it is in the heart
of a desert, with only one recommendation, — viz.,
the river Buggaur, the water of which is excessively
sweet and wholesome. The day we passed at it was
the coldest I remember since leaving England. A
strong northerly wind blew the whole day, and the
clouds of dust and sand that rose in consequence were
so thick as perfectly to obscure the sun, and all we
could do we could not keep ourselves warm. Here
we had the misfortune also to lose the only man that
has as yet fallen on the march, an old soldier. He
was taken with cholera at eight in the morning and
died at twelve at night : he was buried about six hours
afterwards, just as the regiment marched. The hos-
pital men had no time to stretch him, and he was laid
in the earth in the same posture in which he died,
with his arms stuck a kimbo, pressing upon his
stomach, which shews that he must have suffered in-
tense agony. Poor fellow ! they had not time to dig
his grave very deep, and I am afraid the jackals will
be the only benefiters by his death. We left this
place the next morning, the 30th, and arrived here

LETTER III. 17

(Tatta) about eleven o'clock, a twelve-mile march.
A great number of the 2nd brigade rode out to meet
us, and the 4th Light Dragoons very kindly asked us
to breakfast immediately on our arrival. You may be
sure they had not to ask us twice !

Tatta is a very ancient town, said to have been
built by either Alexander, on his march down the
Indus, or by one of his generals ; the ancient name
was Patala. At that time the country was in posses-
sion of Hindoos, or, at least, of the followers of Brahma,
who were most probably the original possessors of the
greater portion of the east. Afterwards, on the rise of
Mahomet, it was soon in possession of his followers,
who seem to have held it for a long period, as they
have left magnificent proofs of their grandeur, both in
the city and all round the neighbourhood, which is
studded with splendid cupolas, domes, temples, and
tombs ; there is one in particular in the town itself,
an old tomb, now used as a caravanserai, which is ex-
cessively handsome. When I talk of a tomb being
turned into a caravanserai, you will of course under-
stand that a tomb in this part of the world is very dif-
ferent from one in the western part of the globe. This
tomb itself would cover as much ground as Exeter
Cathedral. The inside of the domes are very beauti-
fully enamelled in the chastest colours, and with most
excellent taste, and would put to shame the most
handsome drawing-room in London, I should think.
I have never repented not being able to draw so much

18 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

as I have since I have been in the East, but particu-
larly since I have been at this place, where there is so
much that would look well in a sketch ; but I would
not give twopence to be able to draw and not draw
well, particularly when I see the daubs that some men,
who fancy they are hands at it, produce, after fagging
at the simplest thing possible, and I believe that if
nature does not give you a turn for it, all the trying
possible would never make a painter, and that what
the old Roman proverb said of the poet, " Non fit sed
nascitur poeta," is equally applicable to the painter.
I tried it for a short time, at Hanover, but my master
told me I was the most awkward and stupid pupil he
ever had, and advised me to cut the concern, and I
followed his advice ; nor am I sorry that I did so, as I
should never have been able to draw well, and should
have only been discontented, and given it up in dis-
gust. We have, however, two officers in our regiment
who both draw and sketch exceedingly well ; and I
will try to get duplicates from them if possible, so that,
if God spares my life, and I ever return home, I shall
be able to shew you some specimens of the country
we have passed through.

Jan, 2nd, — Well, we are to have no fighting, at
least at present, it appears. This will be cheering
news for Kitty, I expect. We were most egregiously
disappointed in the town or city of Tatta itself We
saw it at a great distance on our march, and on
arriving on our encamping ground, it looked exces-

LETTER III. 19

sively well, and gave us the idea of a very handsome
place. We saw what we imagined to be high houses,
built of stone, towers and pillars ; but lo I when we
rode in to examine it, these splendid buildings turned
out to be a most miserable collection of white mud
houses, which had the appearance of stone at a dis-
tance. Some of them were tolerably high, certainly ;
but the most wretched-looking things possible. This
is the case with most towns in the east. Like Dart-
mouth, they all look best a la distance.

I am sorry to say that we have a great many men in
the hospital now, and four officers on the sick list ; two
of them very unwell. All the cases are bowel complaints,
and most of them dysentery. This is the case generally.
While on the march, soldiers seldom feel it ; but when
the halt afterwards comes, then they get touched up
awfully. However, it is not to be wondered at, when
one considers the quantity of duty which they have to
perform at present. Out-lying and in-lying pickets,
and guards, &c. ; add to which, the being suddenly
transported from the climate of India, to which most
of them have become inured by a residence, on the
average, of twelve years, to this comparatively cold
and changeful climate, is enough of itself to shake
them a little. They have also done what no Indian
troops have done before : in marching in India, al-
most everything is carried for the soldier ; he merely
carries what he does on parade — viz., his firelock and
accoutrements. Our regiment though, by-the-bye, has

c

20 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

always carried a blanket, with a clean shirt and stock-
ings and flannel waistcoat wrapped up in it, that they
may be enabled to change as soon as they have
marched in. On this march, each man has carried
his knapsack, with his kit in it, twenty rounds of am-
munition, a havresack with his day's rations, and a
small round keg containing water, the weight of all
which is no joke. While at Bominacote, we fully ex-
pected to have a little fighting after passing Tatta,
and on our arrival here we heard a report which in-
duced us to believe that we should have a brush with
the Ameers very shortly ; but it appears now that the
Ameers have seen the folly of such proceedings, and
have determined to receive us amicably, and to assist
our passage through their country, and that it was
only one of the Ameers that was inclined to be restive.
He endeavoured to stop our camels, &c., and managed
to do so for some time, and collected as much of what
they call an army as he could — about 5000 of these
Beloochees, but with no guns, or anything of that sort.
However, on collecting them, they represented to
him that the British troops were behaving so well, and
the inhabitants of the country were getting so much
more money for their articles of sale than they ever
got before, that they considered it was more for
their profit and advantage that the English should
march through their country than that they should
oppose them, and get licked into the bargain, as they
were sure they would be. All eastern nations have an

LETTER IIL 21

awful dread of European artillery. It also happened
that the poor Ameer had unfortunately not the
wherewithal to carry on the war, and his army made
excessively high demands on him, you may be sure.
The consequence of all which was, that the army dis-
solved itself as quietly as possible, and the poor Ameer
found himself solus. The result is, that a deputation
is now here, with a small force from the head Ameer,
at Hydrabad, under the command of Nur Mahomed,
another Ameer, and that he has made most ample
apologies for the conduct of his brother Ameer, and
offered not only to let us pass through his country, but
to assist us in so doing to the utmost of his power. It
was indeed well for the Ameers that they came to
this decision, as had they acted contrary we should
have taken possession of their country to a moral cer-
tainty. Now they have a chance of keeping half the
loaf.

We have here certainly the flower of the Bombay
army, and a very respectable force in every respect :
two of the best European regiments, four of the best
native, the 4th dragoons, two regiments of light
cavalry, two troops of horse artillery in prime order,
and a battalion of foot artillery, together with a
splendid band of auxiliary horse from Cutch, the
finest looking fellows I ever saw : they arrived here
on the same day as ourselves. I was standing on one
of the hills as they wound their way round it ; I was
never struck with anything so much, nor have I ever
c 2

22 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

seen anything so orientally military before. They
are dressed in green garments, edged with gold, and
red turbans, tied under the chin, like the old Mah-
ratta soldiers ; their arms are match-lock, lance, sci-
mitar, and pistols, and they appear to be excellent
and practical riders. They are quite an indepen-
dent corps, each man finding his own horse, arms,
accoutrements, &c., and they take good care to be
excellently mounted. They have a few European
officers attached to them from the Bombay establish-
ment. Their dress is also uncommonly handsome ; a
green hussar dress, with gold braiding. In addition
to all this force, we have a subsidiary one nearly as
large, coming on directly to follow our steps, and oc-
cupy Sinde, while we march on with the Bengalees
for Cabool. This force, they say, is to consist of
H. M. 40th regiment from Deesa, the 10th, 16th,
22nd, and 24th regiments, 23rd N. I., together with
H. M. 90th and 61st regiments, and Ceylon Rifle
Corps (Malays) from Ceylon, so that I expect the
government at home will have to send more regiments
to India as quickly as possible. Sir J. Keane is very
likely to have the command of the whole force, both
Bombay and Bengal, as they say Sir H. Fane is gone
back to Bengal with half the Bengal force, in conse-
quence of the Burmese declaring war; which, as
might have been expected, they did directly when so
many regiments were marched from their neighbour-
hood. This report is, however, contradicted, and

LETTER III. 23

they say now that Sir H. Fane is going home, and
will meet us at Shikarpoor or Hydrabad, give up the
command to Sir J. Keane, and go down the Indus,
and thence to England overland. Which is the true
version I know not ; but I am afraid that I have little
chance of meeting Colonel Fane, and giving him
Arthur's letter, which I expected to do when I wrote
last. I am delighted at the prospect of our going to
Cabool: there we may have some fighting, and have a
chance of being permanently quartered till we return
to Europe, whenever that may be.

What the original cause of all this was, as I told
you before, I hardly know ; and you are more likely
to get at the true version from some of the Indian
newspapers, or from any friends you may have con-
nected with this part of the world, than from me.
But, as far as I can learn, this appears to be it : Shah
Shooja is the rightful heir to the throne of Ca-
bool, and Dost Mahomed is what Mr. C. Dickens
calls the "wrongful one," alias the usurper. Dost
Mahomed had possession of the country, and the In-
dian government, from what motives I know not, de-
termined to unseat him and replace Shah Shooja.
In this matter they are assisted by old Runjet Sing,
King of Lahore, or, as his oriental title goes, " the
blind lion of the Punjab." The Persians, on the
contrary, took part with Dost Mahomed, insulted our
resident at their court, and besieged Shah Shooja's
party in Herat ; from which, however, after a siege of

24 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

long duration, tlie}^ were finally obliged to retire.
There was a report at first that Russia was concerned
in this affair, and that Russian troops were present
with the Persians at the siege ; but these turned out to
be a regiment or two of Russian renegadoes whom
the King of Persia has in his pay. There was an-
other report of a letter having been discovered from
the government of Russia to the King of Persia,
which induced the belief that the Emperor of Russia
was playing a deep game, the object of which was to
lessen our influence in the East; and many people, I
believe, are very much of this opinion. How far all this
may be true I know not ; but I have been told by old
Indians that for a long time the Indian government
have been anxious to have a strong footing in Sinde,
and to command the navigation of the Indus ; and
that now they have the opportunity they are not
likely to let it slip. The Afghans are a very hardy
race of men, and we may have some sharp work with
them ; but I think a gun or two of our horse artillery
would have sent the Beloochees scampering. They
are miserably equipped ; but being nearly all robbers,
they might have annoyed us by a night attack, which
would have been anything but pleasant, particularly
for the poor sub. on out-lying picket. Some Bombay
native merchants are at present at Tatta ; they have
been here for ten years, and have been afraid to stir
for fear of being robbed. I have no doubt but that
the inhabitants of the country would prefer our go-

LETTER III. 25

vernment considerably to that of the Ameers, as they
are exceedingly tyrannical, and grind their subjects
to the last degree, demanding half of everything that
is offered for sale. When Burnes travelled first in
this country, some few years ago, and was received
by the Ameer in divan, at Hydrabad, an old priest
who was present is said to have reproved the Ameer
for receiving Burnes so civilly, and to have told him
" that since one Englishman had seen the Indus, it
would not be long before they would be in possession
of it ;" and so it seems likely to turn out.

Well; as long as I keep my health I care little
where we go or what we do; but marching in ill
health is a great damper to the spirits. The stay-at-
hcfme soldiers in England little know what service in
this climate really is. I should like to see ********
af the ***** on out-lying picket here ; he would not
find it quite so pleasant as Almack's. I have very
little time to add more, as the post goes to Bombay
to-day, but to wish you all at home a very happy new
year, and love to all relations and friends, as you may
not hear from me again for some time. I will endea-
vour to pick up as many curiosities and things of that
description as possible for you, if I do not get knocked
on the head. I keep a journal, and will write by
every opportunity. Your next letter to me may find
me in Cabool. Once more, good bye.

Ever your affectionate son,

T. W. E. HOLDSWORTH.

26 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

LETTER IV.

Camp, near Jarruk, on the banks of the Indus,
Twenty miles from Hydrabad,

January, 31st, 1839.

My dear Father, — I had fully intended this letter
for Kitty, but such a dreadful event happened in
our regiment yesterday, that I was afraid, if she was
at all unwell when she received the letter, connecting
it, as she would, with me, it might throw her into
some dreadful fever, or something of that sort. I
have very little time to write, as the post leaves this,
by steamer, at three o'clock to-day; and I have a
great deal to do during the day. I think it my duty,
however, to write, as the report of the circumstance
might get into the papers without mentioning names,
or giving wrong ones, and you might be needlessly
alarmed.

To strike at once in medias res, this event is no less
than the horrible death of three of our officers in a burn-
ing shikargur, or large thicket, enclosed by the Ameers
for the preservation of game. The names of the poor.

LETTER IV. 27

unfortunate fellows are Sparke, (whom, by-the-bye,
you might have seen at Chatham,) Nixon, and Hib-
bert. The two first, Lieut. Sparke, in the Grenadiers,
and Nixon, in the Light Company. Hibbert was
assistant-surgeon. They were three of the finest
hearted fellows : Nixon, a long time one of my fellow
subs in the Light Company. (I can hardly write, my
hand shakes so.) Poor Hibbert was an exceedingly
clever fellow, and a great traveller, and one of the
most beautiful draughtsmen you could meet with any
where. They are all three a terrible loss to our
corps. I will tell you the mournful tale as it hap-
pened. We arrived here on the 25th. I breakfasted
on Tuesday with them at mess, which was the last time
I ever saw them alive : they were in exceedingly high
spirits. The success of an enterprise the day before
appears to have determined them to go upon another
expedition on this day, which at first sight did not
appear half so hazardous as it unfortunately proved to
be ; this was no less than going into a shikargur (of
which I have explained the meaning above) about four
or five miles in the rear of our camp, and which was
supposed to be well stocked with game. It happened
that this jungle had been set on fire about two days
previously, most likely by some of our camel drivers,
or other native followers : some said it was done by
the Beloochees ; but this I think very unlikely, as it is
dead to leeward of our camp. Well, they did not ap-
pear in the evening, and we began to be rather
c 3

28 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

alarmed on their account : however, we thought they
would turn up by some chance or other. Next morn-
ing (yesterday), when the regiment fell in, an hour
before daylight, which the whole camp does here
every morning, as we are supposed to have a hostile
force not very far from us, they were reported absent.
Breakfast came ; no tidings of them : ten ; eleven
o'clock ; and they began to be the talk of the whole
camp. However, we speculated that the worst that
could have happened to them was being taken pri-
soners by a party of Beloochees, and kept as hostages,
or something of that sort. At twelve, General Will-
shire became so alarmed and anxious about them that
he sent out a troop of the 1st Light Cavalry to scour
the jungles, and discover what they could of them ;
another officer sent out a party of six natives, with the
promise of a reward of two hundred rupees if they
could find any tidings of them. Well ; the day went
on; and at mess, at six o'clock, nothing had been
heard relative to their fate, except that a little dog
belonging to poor Nixon returned to camp about four
o'clock. About eight o'clock I was in Dickinson's
tent, smoking a cheroot, &c., previous to turning in,
when one of our servants rushed in with the dreadful
intelligence that the bodies had been found in the
jungle by the Light Cavalry. It struck us at first so
unexpectedly, and as being a thing so dreadful, that
we would hardly believe it ; however, all doubt was
soon changed into horrible reality by the arrival of

LETTER IV. 29

the bodies within our lines. I was determined not to
see them ; but there was a horrible fascination which
drew one along with the rest to the hospital tent,
where they were lying. ***** Twelve
o'clock. — Well ; I am just returned from seeing the
last honours paid to their remains ; it is a melancholy
business a military funeral ; every officer in camp at-
tended ; and, after all, they have had the satisfaction of
a Christian burial, which may not be our luck in a
short time. I do not know why, but this sad event
has made me an old woman almost ! They lie side
by side on a hill just in the rear of our camp ; " no
useless coffin enclosed their corse;" but there they
lie together, wrapped in their cloaks. Peace to their
manes ! We intend erecting a monument to them, if
possible. I learned that some of the staff had been to
the jungle to investigate it thoroughly to-day, and
from various circumstances, have come to the conclu-
sion that they had climbed up some high trees, which
surrounded the place where they fell, in order to
shoot the game as they came out, and that before they
had time to make their escape, a breeze came, which
brought the smoke, and which most likely stifled, or
at least rendered them senseless. Let us hope that
this was the case, as I should think that so their death
would not have been very painful : the position in
which their bodies were lying when found seems to
warrant this supposition. A porcupine was found
close to their trees, burnt to a cinder. It blew very

30 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

hard last night, and I passed an almost sleepless night
in thinking of these poor fellows. It gives a man an
awful shake in going through life, seeing the very
fellows you have lived with for the last two years, in
whose proceedings you have borne a part, brought
suddenly before you in such a state : a man in these
situations thinks more in two hours than he does in
the whole course of his natural life under ordinary
circumstances. It proves what helpless beings we are ;
how little we can control our own actions : truly, " in
the midst of life we are in death."

I wrote to you on the new year's day everything
that had happened up to that time ; the letter was to
have gone by the overland mail of the 19th. I hope
you will receive it safe, as I should be sorry you
should lose anything from me now, as it may be the
last you may ever have, so precarious are the chances
of a soldier's life on actual service. Shortly after
writing to you, I got ill again, and it ended in a slight
fever, which cleared me out altogether, since which
I have been in perfectly good health, thank God.
I came off the sick list on the 22nd January, the day
before we marched from Tatta. I will give you my
journal from that time to the sad event which has just
happened.

Wednesday, Jan, 23, 1839. — On this day, at 6 a.m.,
the corps d'arme of Sinde marched out of the en-
campment near Tatta en route for Hydrabad, the
Cutch Auxiliary Horse in advance, detaching flankers.

LETTER IV. 31

&c., then the main body in the following order : —
The 4th Light Dragoons in front ; nextj one squadron
of horse artillery, followed by two squadrons of the
1st regiment of Bombay Light Cavalry, one company
of foot artillery, then the first brigade of infantry,
under General Willshire, consisting of the Queen's
Royals, 5th and 1st, or Grenadier regiment, Native In-
fantry, a second squadron of horse artillery, a second
company of foot artillery ; the 2nd infantry brigade,
consisting of H. M. 17th regiment, the 19th and 23rd
regiments Native Infantry ; the whole closed by two
other squadrons of 1st Light Cavalry. We (i. e., the
1st brigade) left our ground a quarter before six, and
halted on a rising ground close to the walls of Tatta,
whence we had a very fair view of the cavalry, ar-
tillery, &c., that were in the advance of us, winding
their v/ay through a pretty avenue of trees : the whole
presented a very animated and martial appearance,
the different corps marching off with colours uncased,
band playing, &c. Cunningham's, or the Poonah
Auxiliary Horse, having only arrived the night before,
did not join the main body, but came up somewhat
later in the day, I believe. The march of the main
body this day was not more than ten miles ; but our
brigade was posted two miles in advance of the rest of
the force, and the Queen's were nearly a mile in ad-
vance of the other two regiments of the brigade ; so
that we marched about thirteen miles. We encamped
in a rather pretty valley surrounded by barren rocks,

32 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

with our right resting, on a shikargur (or hunting
thicket) ; we had a fine pebbly bottom, which was a
great reHef to our feet after the hot dust of Tatta. My
baggage did not make its appearance till about five
o'clock, my unfortunate young camel having proved
restive, and flung its load two or three times, thereby
considerably damaging my cot and table : mess at six,
— nothing particular.

Thursday, Jan. 24. — In consequence of our being
so much in advance, our " rouse" did not sound till
six o'clock this morning, and we did not march off our
ground till seven. After we had marched about two
miles, we halted and piled arms, to enable the cavalry,
&c., in our rear to pass on, and thus we had a very
good review of them : they marched in the same order
as yesterday, except that in addition, and near to the
light cavalry, came Cunningham's horse from Poonah^
this was the first time we had seen them ; they made
a very splendid appearance, about 600 strong, and
well equipped in every respect ; their dress and ac-
coutrements the same as the Cutch Horse, (of which I
gave you a description in my last,) with the difference
of wearing yellow and red instead of green and red.
We had a very pleasant march this day, except the
latter part, which was exceedingly dusty ; some very
pretty and romantic scenery, consisting of ruined forts,
abrupt hills, large rocks, interspersed with some beau-
tiful lakes here and there. We reached our encamp-
ing ground rather late — half-past eleven o'clock —

LETTER IV. 33

lost my breakfast, owing to my native groom, who
carried some stock for me, and to whom I had given
directions to wait by the regiment till they had piled
arms and were dismissed, having disobeyed my orders,
and cut off with my tatter to the river, about three
miles off : gave chase directly the parade was dismissed,
and walked through a shikargur to the river, but could
not find the rascal. I had, however, a good view of the
Indus, which does not here appear to be very broad :
a cruel hot day ; and, in addition to my other mis-
fortunes, was nearly stifled by the clouds of dust raised
by cavalry of every description leading their horses to
water. On my return to camp I luckily found my
baggage arrived, and had a good snoose till six o'clock,
mess time ; heard at mess that the Ameers had agreed
to all our terms, and would do everything to assist
our passage through their country ; that we were
to march straight to Shikarpoor, without halting at
Hydrabad ; after remaining at which place for some
time, we should advance upon Candahar, — all fudge.
Our position this halt was about the centre of the
army, — bad encamping ground, — very dusty.

Friday, 25th. — Left our encampment at six, in the
same order as before; our out-lying picket, under
Stisted, joined us near our first halt, about three miles.
Warlike news, — the Ameers had rejected our treaty,
and that a force of 10,000 Beloochees had crossed the
river, and would probably give us some trouble.
Stisted had received orders to keep a very sharp look-

34 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

out with his picket, as there was a chance of its being
attacked : Jephson joined, with news from Sir J.
Keane, that there was every chance of our being at-
tacked on the line of march ; however, we were not,
although we passed over some very pretty ground for
a battle. Marched into our encamping ground about
half-past ten, near a half-ruined village called Jarruk,
on the banks of the river ; the army here took up a
rather strong position, on a chain of heights ; our brigade
being, however, pushed on again in advance, on some
low and jungly ground near the river ; the Queen's
again on the extreme front. News still warlike ;
the Beloochees, under Meer Mahomet, one of the
Ameers, and the most restive of them, being supposed
to be near us in great force, though nobody seemed
to know where. All the oot-wallas, or camel-drivers,
put under charge of sentries, as there was reason to
suspect they meditated deserting in the night with our
camels. Bad encamping ground again, — a dusty, half-
cultivated field.

Saturday i 26th. — Turned out of bed between two
and three, a. m., with orders to fall in, at a moment's
notice, in " light marching order," as an attack was
strongly expected. Spies had reported that 10,000
Beloochees were in a shikargur not seven miles from
us, and that they intended a night attack ; everybody
in the highest state of excitement, pistols loading, &c.
Fell in an hour before daylight ; cavalry sent out in all
directions ; staff and field-officers galloping about like

I^ETTER IV. 35

mad fellows ; remained under arms till day had fully
broke, when we were dismissed, but commanded not
to stray far from camp : great excitement all day ;
Cunningham's horse sent out to reconnoitre ; returned
late at night, reporting that they had patrolled sixteen
miles in advance, had closely examined the shikargur
in question, and could find no traces of the Beloochees,
— a strong suspicion, however, remained that there
were Beloochees in our neighbourhood.

Sunday, 21 th. — Under arms an hour before day-
light ; no further news ; camp quiet. As I was to be
on out-lying picket this evening, rode out after break-
fast to look at my ground, which appeared rather
strong, intersected with ravines, brushwood, &c., and
a good place to hold against cavalry. Mounted picket
at five o'clock, p. m., fifty-seven rank and file, two Ser-
jeants, four corporals, and one bugler, a chain of nine
double sentries, the right resting on the river and the
Hydrabad road, and the chain running along a dry
nullah, till it communicated with the sentries of the
5th regiment's picket; a corporal's party of three
men detached in advance to an old ruin on the left
front ; a picket of cavalry about two miles in advance,
with videttes on some high ground. A beautiful moon-
light night, and not very cold till about one o'clock in
the morning ; lay on the ground and thought of what
was going on at Brookhill and fancy ball at Torquay ;
visited my sentries continually; the men in high
spirits, and very much on the alert ; nothing extraor-
dinary occurred.

36 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

Here I have brought my journal down to the sad
event which has filled the former part of my letter.
With regard to our future operations, reports seem to
be so very various that one hardly knows what to
think; but the general opinion seems to be, that, as
the Ameers still continue restive, Hydrabad will be in-
vested, and, consequently, laid siege to in due form
in a f<^w days. We intend, I believe, to cross the river
here, and not further up, where we should be exposed
to the fire of the Beloochees, who muster pretty strong
there. We are only waiting for our gun-boats, they say,
which take a long time to come up, and move about the
rate of two miles a day, owing to the strong current.
The report to-day is, that a force is to be detached to
this place from the Bengal army at Shikarpoor, as we are
not strong enough to invest Hydrabad by ourselves,
and we must not give the enemy the slightest chance
of success, as the influence our arms have must be
supported, otherwise we may be deserted by our na-
tive army. I wish something had been definitely
settled by this time ; but I must not lose this steamer,
otherwise I might not have a chance of writing again.
The overland sails on the 21st proximo: I hope this
will reach you safe. Tell Kitty I received her letter,
dated October 1st, while at Tatta, and cannot tell how
it was that she did not receive any from me for five
months, as I wrote in June ; but several officers have
heard from their friends that their letters have been
missing about that time, and I am afraid that a mail
has been lost. I do not think that the Ameers would

LETTER IV. 37

oppose us of themselves, but they cannot control their
army, these robber Beloochees, who do pretty much
what they like, and have it their own way every-
where ; if defeated, they can easily retreat to their
mountain hold, the Lukke mountains, separating Be-
loochistan from Sinde. With best love to all at home,
and with every hope that they may escape the chances
and perils to which we poor soldiers are exposed.

Believe me, ever your most affectionate son,

T. W. E. HOLDSWORTH.

38 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

LETTER V.

Camp Kotree, four miles from Hydrabad,
February 6 th, 1839.

My dear Father, — I wrote to you a few days
ago from Jarruk, informing you of the melancholy
fate of three of my brother officers; but having re-
ceived your letter since, dated Nov. 20th, containing
the bill for 670 rupees (or 70Z.), and informing me of
the news of Kate's intended marriage, I could not let
slip an opportunity which has just occurred, by our
having got possession of Curachee, of writing to Kitty,
and also, at the same time, of informing you of what
has occurred since. You will receive this at the same
time as you do the other, since it will arrive at Bom-
bay in time to go by the same overland mail.

I wrote to you on the 31st; and on Sunday, the 3rd
of February, we marched out of Jarruk for this place ;
we made a two days' march of it, both very disgust-
ing ; horrible, or rather no roads at all ; nothing but
dust and sand under our feet, which the wind blew

LETTER V. 39

into our eyes every minute ; add to whicli, small halts
every five minutes, on account of the artillery in our
front, w^ho could not get on through the badness of
the way: this perpetual halting is the most vrearisome
thing possible to a soldier w^hen once fairly under
weigh. Well ; we arrived here on the day before yes-
day; our front is now completely changed, being
towards the river, and not turned from it, or with
our right resting on it, as it has been before; our
brigade is on the extreme right. Of course, you know
that we are on the western bank, and that Hydrabad
is on the eastern, and therefore the opposite one.
Since we have been here, we have a little relaxed in
our discipline, being no longer under arms before
daylight ; but reports are still very various as to whe-
ther we are to have peace or war with the Ameers,
and whether we shall eventually have to sack Hydra-
bad or not. A deputation from thence came over
yesterday to Sir J. Keane. It appears that the
Ameers will agree to our treaty, but demur about the
money which that treaty obliges them to pay. As
far as I can learn, though I do not advise you to put
much reliance on it, as I may very likely be wrong, this
seems to be the case. It appears that the Ameers
have long owed our ally, whom we are going to place
on the throne of Cabool, Shah Shooja, twenty lacs
of rupees ; that on our declaring war they agreed to
pay this sum, with Shah Shooja's consent, to our go-
vernment to meet the expenses of the war, and to

40 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

give us a passage through their country to Shikar-
poor. However, from our first landing in their coun-
try they have played a most underhand game, and
endeavoured to throw every indirect obstacle in our
way, behaving friendly to our faces, but behind our
backs giving very different directions to their satel-
lites : this was found out by means of intercepted
letters, particularly at our last halt at Jarruk. The
conduct of our party may not be considered of quite
the fairest nature, as we are establishing posts in their
country by way of communication, and reserves at
three or four different places. This was, no doubt,
part of the original plan that sent us here, as these
posts are to be strongly fortified, consisting, it is sup-
posed, of Shikarpoor, Schwun, Tatta, and Curachee,
and are to be the posts of defence on our north-west
frontiers against any incursions from our northern
neighbours, particularly Russia. The Ameers are
particularly indignant at this, as I am told it did not
form part of the original treaty, and they see in it, no
doubt with justice, a prelude to our final possession of
their country. Pottinger, the political agent, had
collected, before he left Hydrabad, grain for the army
to the value of three lacs of rupees ; this, it is now
found out, has either been taken away or destroyed,
and Sir J. Keane immediately added it to the other
twenty lacs contained in the treaty. The Ameers
say they will pay half the whole sum demanded here,
and the remaining half on our arrival at Shikarpoor.

LETTER V. 41

This Sir J. Keane has refused, and told them he will
not leave this or Hjdrabad till he gets every fraction.

We yesterday received news which must, I should
think, have an effect on the Ameers one way or the
other. The admiral on this station, Sir F. Maitland,
brought up in his 74 (I think the Wellesley) H. M.
40th regiment, from Mandivie, in Cutch, to Curachee,
a fort on the westernmost branch of the Indus. On
approaching the fort, the Beloochees who garrisoned
it, taking it for a common free-trader, had the foolish
presumption to fire into her ; the admiral wore his
vessel round, just gave one broadside, down came
their fort in one second about their ears, — you may
guess how it astonished them : they sent word to say
that the English fire a lac of shot in one second. They
say the Ameers were one year in taking this place,
which cost the English one second. I think myself
that we shall not have any fighting here, and that
Hydrabad will still remain in the hands of the
Ameers.

The report to-day is, that we cross the river to-
morrow ; if so, I suppose with hostile intentions, or at
least for intimidation ; but this I hardly believe. Sir
J. Keane, they say, refused to receive the deputation
from the Ameers yesterday. Should the thing be
settled peaceably, we shall immediately march for
Shikarpoor, and thence most likely on Canda-
har, a new climate. It has been getting gradually
hotter here ; and in the hot season Sinde is dreadful.

42 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

At Shikarpoor we meet a part, if not the whole, of the
Bengal force, and Shah Shooja, with his and Runjet
Sing's contingent, is also there. Runjet himself is
very ill : part of the agreement between him and us
was, that we should preserve the throne to his son on
his demise. He was excessively civil to Lord Auck-
land, and all the English who have been at Lahore.
Sir H. Fane, they say, still proceeds with the Bengal
army. The drummer is here waiting for my letter, as
it is very late for the post, so, in haste, good bye.
Love, &c., and believe me ever.

Your most affectionate son,

T. W. E. HOLDSWORTH.

P.S. Jephson is post-master to the force.

43

LETTER VI.

Camp, near Larkhanu,
Wednesday, 6th March, 1839.

My dear Father, — I last wrote to you from
Kotree, opposite Hydrabad. We are now, as you
will see by the date, at Larkhanu, a pretty consider-
able distance from the former place. I see, by my
journal, that it was the 6th of February when I last
wrote, exactly one month ago. We were then, I be-
lieve, rather ignorant of what the Ameers intended ;
but the fate of Curachee, of which I gave you an ac-
count, brought them to their senses, and the day
after I wrote things were settled, and officers had per-
mission to visit Hydrabad, merely reporting their
names to their respective majors of brigade before
they did so. In consequence of which I went over
to that place on the 9th, with Dickenson and Piercy ;
but there was not much to repay us for our ride, under
a cruelly hot sun, as the fort, the only place w^orth
seeing, was shut up, and no one could get a view of

D

44 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

the inside except a few of the staff. It did not ap-
pear to be very strong, although it had a pretty ap-
pearance. I think the Ameers acted very wisely, as
it could easily be taken by escalade. The rest of the
town consisted of a great straggling bazaar, just the
same as is to be seen everywhere in India ; and it did
not appear a bit better than that at Belgaum. There
were some fine elephants belonging to the Ameers,
and some pretty ruins on the outskirts of the town.
The Beloochees had all left, and were nowhere to be
seen.

Sunday, the 10th, we marched off our ground at
Kotree, and reached Lukkee on Saturday, the 16th,
after a six days' march, most of them fifteen miles.
Here we halted four days to allow the pioneers, &c.,
to make a road over the Lukkee Pass for the ar-
tillery. We found here some excellent sulphur springs
and baths, about a mile from our encampment, among
the Lukkee hills, which, if they could be transported
to Dartmouth, would make a second Bath of it. The
whole of our force were bidetizing here all day long.
Being so directly under the hills, we found it rather
warmer than we liked. There were some large lakes
here, full of wild duck, and capital partridge-shooting,
and we were cracking away all the time. On the march
to this place I had the misfortune to lose a very nice
little bull-terrier bitch, about a year old, which I had
from a pup, at Belgaum, and which had followed my
fortunes so far. It was all her own fault, as she broke

LETTER VI. 45

from my tent one night, and though I used every en-
deavour I could hear nothing more of her.

The 21st we marched over the Pass to Schwun,
the largest place in Sinde next to Tatta. The Pass
vras not half so bad as we expected, so we filed over it
very easily. On our arrival at Schwun v^^e heard
that Sir H. Fane had just passed down the river, with
his staff, en route for Bombay, and was laying at
anchor about five miles down the river, where Sir J,
Keane went to meet him ; so that here ended my last
chance of meeting Col. Fane, and giving him Arthur's
letter. Sir H. Fane will remain at Bombay, which is
to be the head quarters of the Indian army while this
business lasts. We only halted one day at Schwun ; I
rode in to look at the town, which was nearly deso-
late, as the inhabitants of every place invariably re-
move with their families on our arrival. There was,
however, a fine old castle in ruins, which was well
worth seeing, and must have been a place of some im-
portance in former days ; and a very superb mosque
in the centre of the town, in which was a tame tiger.
We left Schwun on Saturday, the 23rd, crossing the
Arrul river, which flows round the town into the
Indus, on pontoons, and commenced our first march
in Upper Sinde. This day's march was delightful, and
the only tolerable one we have had, all the rest be-
ing through a dismal, dusty desert, with sometimes no
path at all, and the dust generally so thick in march-
ing that you cannot see an inch before you. This

D 2

46 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

was, however, a grand exception. We marched by
the side of a magnificent lake, full of wild fowl, the
banks of which were carpeted with rich wild clover,
and over-shadowed with fine trees, the only ones of any
size that we have yet seen in Sinde ; so that you might
almost fancy you were going through a nobleman's
park in England (Kitly, par example.) In fact, this
place put me more in mind of Old England than any I
have seen in the East. From Schwun we marched
direct to this place, which we reached on the 4th, the
day before yesterday, without halting once : most of
the marches fifteen miles, and all terrible teasers, on
account of the badness of the roads, and the stupidity
or wilful ignorance of our guides. One of our marches
was to have been a short one of ten miles ; but for
some unaccountable reasons our route and encamping
ground were changed three times. We lost our way
in the jungle, and marched fifteen, instead of ten,
miles before we found ourselves in our proper places ;
on arrival at which we found that half the officers'
and men's baggage was gone on to our next en-
camping ground, fifteen miles further, which,
owing to the variety of places named in orders, our
servants supposed to be the right one. My baggage
was one of the unlucky ; but my servant came back
with my things about five o'clock in the evening;
so that my poor camels must have gone nearly forty
"miles that day, with a prospect of another fifteen the
next morning at five. General Willshire, and, I hear,

LETTER VI. 47

Sir J. Keane also, were among the sufferers. Our
poor sick were all lost in the jungles for this day, and
we saw nothing of half of them till we arrived on our
next encamping ground. Some of them were up-
wards of twenty-four hours without getting anything
to eat, or attendance of any sort. Well, we marched
to this place on the day before yesterday, after ten
days' regular hard work. A great number in hospital ;
though they are coming out again now pretty fast.

It is believed we shall halt here about a week ; but
what we shall do then nobody seems to know. The
greater part of the force will, it is believed, follow the
Bengalees to Candahar, who marched from Shikar-
poor for that purpose, under Sir Willoughby Cotton,
on the 22nd, but have since been detained, owing to
the impracticability of the country. One regiment of
our brigade (the Grenadier regiment, Native Infantry)
is under orders for Bukkur, an island fort on the
Indus, about twenty-five miles from Shikarpoor, which
(i. e., Bukkur) is to be our depot for stores, &c., and
where all the present unfits, in the shape of sick men,
are to be sent. No doubt some other troops will be
left in Upper Sinde, at different places, and I have
some fears that the " Queen's" may be among the
number. Heaven defend us from being quartered in
any part of this wretched country, particularly fi:om
Shikarpoor, which is said to be one of the hottest
places in existence. In fact, the Persians say.

48 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

'' While there is a Shikarpoor, there ought to be no
Johannum," or hell. What a pity it would be to lose
such a capital chance of seeing Candahar, and per-
haps Cabool, which is said to be a splendid place and
a delightful climate. The Bolan Pass, a most magni-
ficent and difficult one, the key to Afghanistan from
Sinde, is said to be now totally impassable, from the
number of dead cattle, horses, and camels, which
Shah Shooja's force lost there. This I believe, how-
ever, to be mere report. We heard, the other day,
that Dost Mahomed had occupied it, and that we
should have to take it at the point of the bayonet. So
much do reports vary, one knows not what to believe.
This pass, said to be thirty miles long, and at some
places almost impassable, runs through and over the
large chain of mountains that separates the mountainous
country of Candahar and Cabool, or, as it is generally
called, Afghanistan, from the lowland of Sinde ; it is
not easy to cross it, at least before April, as till then
the snows are not melted.

I hope and trust my next letter will be dated
from Candahar, which is, however, a good six
weeks' niarch from this place. We have found the
weather dreadfully hot for the last few days, averaging
generally 106 in our tents in the day time, though
the nights are cool, and the mornings generally very
cold. I have not yet been in Larkhanu, though we
marched through a part of it on our arrival. Our

LETTER VI. 49

men have been now for three days without any dram
at all, and their rations are getting worse and worse
every day ; in fact, things are so bad that they have
been obliged to send to Shikarpoor for part of what
was left there by the Bengal commissariat, which is said
to be excellent, and which has fed their army very
well, although they have come a much greater dis-
tance than we have.

I spoke to our paymaster about my bill, and he has
shewn it to the paymaster-general, who says he will
cash it whenever I like, but that I must take it in a
lump ; he will not give it me by instalments. This is
a great nuisance, as it is very hazardous taking so
much money about with one ; the money, too, takes up
a great deal of room and is very heavy; it was, how-
ever, quite a god-send, as I had no idea how very
expensive this march would turn out ; grain for cattle
being exceedingly dear, the natives raising the price
to about 500 per cent, everywhere, thanks to bad
management somewhere. At Tatta each officer re-
ceived a month's pay in advance, that he might pur-
chase cattle for his baggage. This is to be deducted
by three instalments, one from each of the next three
issues of pay. An ensign's pay for one month will hardly
purchase sufficient conveyances. The only mode in
this country is by camels, and a camel is of all ani-
mals the most treacherous, or rather precarious lived ;
they get ill suddenly and go off in three hours : a

50 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

great number have died with us. Now an officer losing
his camels loses one month's pay, and must leave his
kit on the ground, as he has nothing wherewith to
replace his loss. You can, therefore, imagine what
a great relief your bill proved to me, as I shall
always have it to fall back upon. I bought a very
nice little Cabool horse at Kotree, from one of the
Ameers' disbanded Beloochees. He is very hardy,
and accustomed to this country, and not particular
as to his food, which is a capital thing, as most of the
Arab horses that have been brought from India have
fallen off terribly. He is a very pretty figure, goes
well, and leaps capitally, which few of the Arabs can.
I gave 170 rupees for him, or 17Z. In India, I am
confident he would fetch 500 or 600 rupees (50/. or
601)

I am very doubtful as to the time when this
letter may reach you ; I hope it may catch the over-
land mail on the 25th ; but Jephson says it is very
doubtful, and will depend entirely on the chance of
there being a ship at Curachee, or off the Hujamree.
The heat now, while I am writing, is dreadful, and
there is a beastly hot wind blowing which I never
felt before. Heaven send us soon out of Sinde ! We
are expecting the overland mail from England every
day ; it generally manages to come two days after
I write home. You will by this time have re-
ceived the letter I wrote from the Syden, and the one

LETTER VI. 51

I wrote to Kate about the 13th of December from
Bominacote. Reports vary much as to whether we
shall have any fighting if we advance into Candahar.
I should think Dost Mahomed would like to try a
brush with us, at least with Shah Shooja.

With love to all at home.

Believe me your affectionate son,

T. W. E. HOLDSWORTH.

D 3

52 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

LETTER VII.

Gamp, Candahar, June 8th, 1839.

My dear Father, — I begin this letter to you on
the 8th of June, 1839, though when it will reach you,
or whether it ever will, is very doubtful. I have not
written, I see, since the beginning of March, from
Larkhanu ; there was, however, very little use in so
doing, as there was very little chance of your ever get-
ting it, our friends the Beloochees, Kaukers, &c.,
having made free with nearly every mail, and destroyed
them, I am very much afraid that I also have been a
sufferer by them, and that you must have written to me
long ere this, but that our friends of the Bolan Pass
have made use of the letter to wrap their cabobs in.
I have not heard from you or from home at all since
the 2nd of February, when I got your letter, dated
November 20th, enclosing the bill on government,
and informing me of Kate's intended marriage. I
have, however, long since this heard of my lieutenancy.

LETTER VII. 53

and seen my name in the " Gazette," but have not
yet received the confirmation of it from Sir H. Fane
in this country, so that I have been fighting my way,
and am likely to continue so, on the rank and pay of
a full ensign ; however, there will be so much the
more back pay to receive when it does come ; it is a
great nuisance, however, not having it, as I require it
so much in this country. You can form no conception
of the hopeless expense which we have inevitably been
obliged to incur. We have had a tolerable share of
hardships, &c., and the poor marching soldiers have
suffered terribly. What do you think of our having
made a forced march of thirty to forty miles, for six
hours of it under the hottest sun I can recollect, and
I have felt a few of them in India ? Since we left
Larkhanu we have met with little but a series of
robberies, murders, alarms, and skirmishes ; in short,
everything but an actual stand-up fight, which we
were all anxious for, as it would settle matters at once,
and free us from the predatory attacks and cold-
blooded murders of these barbarous tribes.

To begin from where I left off: we marched from
Larkhanu on the 11th March, and reached Dadur,
about four miles from the entrance to the Bolan Pass,
the nest of the robber hordes of Kaukers, Tuckers,
and Beloochees, on the 6th of April, having halted
several times at intermediate places, and made some
terrible marches, fifteen miles being the average dis-
tance. We often lost our way, and marched thereb}^

54 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

a great deal further than was necessary, through bad
guidance. I must tell you, however, that before
leaving Larkhanu, Sir J. Keane assumed the com-
mand of the whole army, both Bengal and Bombay,
by which General Willshire got command of the
Bombay division. The two Bombay brigades were
broken up, the Grenadiers and 5th regiment of Native
Infantry were sent to garrison Bukkur, a tolerably
strong fort on the Indus, and the 23rd Native Infantry
was sent to Lukkur, a town on the opposite side.
There also the different regiments that were to go on
sent their sick, and Bukkur was made a depot for
supplies, medical stores, &c. The greater part of
the foot and some of the horse artillery were sent
there also. Our regiment and the 17 th were then
made into one brigade, and marched from Larkhanu,
as I said before, on the 11th. The cavalry and horse
artillery, &c., did not march for two days after, with
the Commander-in-chief, who took with him his pet
corps, the 19th Native Infantry. They marched b}^ a
different route from ourselves on account of the
scarcity of supplies in that desert country ; we halted
for them at Kochee, which place we reached on the
15th about 3 p. m., after the thirty to forty miles'
march I before told you of, across the marshy desert
which seems to divide Sinde from Cutch Gundava.
This march ought only to have been twenty-six miles ;
but owing to the stupidity of our guide we went a
longer and more circuitous route, and also had the

LETTER VII. 55

pleasure of losing our way during the night ; in ad-
dition to which, on arriving at the village where it was
intended to halt, our staff found out, all of a sudden,
that there was not a sufficiency of water for the whole
force, in consequence of which we were moved to an-
other village (Kichee) five miles further on.

It was during this march that I first witnessed
the effects of extreme thirst on men, however well
disciplined. It was, as I have said before, the hottest
day I ever felt ; not a breath of air, and the sun
enough to knock you down. The men were suffer-
ing dreadfully, and falling out by sections, when
about eleven or twelve o'clock they caught sight of
some water carriers with their mussacks full, so that
they knew water could not be far off. All discipline
was pitched to the devil in an instant, and the men
rushed from the ranks for the water more like mad
devils than anything else — nothing could stop them;
the mounted officers galloped in amongst them, and
threatened, but to no purpose ; nothing short of cut-
ting them down would have stopped any of them.
In the midst of this. General Willshire, at the head
of the brigade, hearing a row and looking round,
saw the greater part of the 17th (they being in front on
this day) scampering across the country like a pack of
hounds ; not knowing what was the matter, he galloped
up to the colonel and demanded an explanation, when,
seeing what was the cause, he made the best of it,
called a halt, and every one immediately rushed to the

56 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

wellsj the scenes at which were most ridiculous, fight-
ing, pushing, knocking down, &c. I saw one man
actually lie down and wallow in a filthy ditch full of
every description of dirt imaginable. We halted here
about two hours, and then marched to our ground,
about six or seven miles further on, the men perform-
ing this latter part of the march with great cheerful-
ness. We halted here two days to rest the men, and
were joined by the rest of the Bombay force, with
the Commander-in-chief

We marched again on the 18 th, another night
march about twenty miles. Here we made another
halt for three days, while some of the staff went on to
get information of the country a-head, about which
they were ignorant. All the villages we had passed
through were deserted, and in some places the water
was stinking. We looked back upon Sinde as a para-
dise compared to the country we were now in.
All the little grain that was supplied to the bazaars by
the commissariat was sold at the most exorbitant price,
yet we were obliged to buy it, and as much as we
could get of it too, and lucky we thought ourselves to
get any of it, even at this rate, at times, in order to
feed our horses and camels, which were beginning to
knock up terribly. We could not now, as we used to
do in Sinde, send the latter into the jungle to feed
on the small brushwood, of which they were so fond,
except at the risk of being robbed of them, and
having the servants who looked after them murdered

LETTER VII. O^

by the bands of Beloochees who hovered about us in
every direction. Still, notwithstanding these annoy-
ances, the humbugging system of conciliation was
kept up, and although there was not an inhabitant to
be seen, we were robbed to our faces very nearly;
yet if a poor sub.'s horse or camel happened to break
his ropes and strayed into a field he was immediately
pounced upon by a provost-marshal and put into a
sort of pound, from which he was not released except
on the payment of a certain sum to be given to the
owners of the field ! Where were they to be found ?
The loss of camels now was irreparable ; even if there
were any to be sold, the prices asked were so exorbi-
tant that few of us youngsters, hampered as we were,
could afford to purchase ; loss of camels produced loss
of kit, loss of kit produced loss of health, &c. Yet
during the whole of this march we were losing camels
through robberies and fatigue, and no measures taken
that we ever heard of to put a stop to it. We marched
from this place on the 22nd, and came to a halt again at
a place called Kotrie, close under the Hala mountains,
about five miles from the Gundava Pass. Here we
(i. e., our brigade and the 4th Light Dragoons) halted
for a week. Sir J. Keane pushed on a-head with two
troops of Light Cavalry and the left wing of the 19th
Native Infantry, in order to catch up Sir Willoughby
Cotton, who was marching in command of the main
body of the Bengal division. General Willshire, with
the staff, artillery, and cavalry, was at Gundava,

5S CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

about eight miles from us. At this place, Kotrie,
which the inhabitants luckily had not deserted, we
were better off in point of supplies than we had been
since we left Larkhanu, and there was plenty of
shooting and fishing; but it was without exception
the hottest place I ever was in. Being close under a
high range of mountains, we were perfectly screened
from any cool breezes that might take it into their
heads to blow from that quarter ; add to this, the hills
themselves, being composed of granite, or some stone
of that description, attracted the sun, and reflected the
heat back again on us, so that we were attacked from
two sides at once. By this time we had no stronger
liquor with us than tea, so that we were perfectly eli-
gible to become members of the Tea-total Temperance
Society ; our supplies in the liquor line, which we had
sent on from Hydrabad to Larkhanu by water, not hav-
ing reached the latter place in time for us to get them.
In this respect the men were better off than ourselves,
they having their dram or two every day. Here the
robbers began to be more bold, and we did not lose
sight of them until we reached Candahar. Five
mails (one of them an " overland," bringing, perhaps,
letters from you or some one at home) out of six were
robbed between this and Shikarpoor ; and news was
received from Sir J. Keane in advance that at the
entrance of the Bolan Pass several bodies of sepoys
of Shah Shooja's army were lying, there having been a
grand skrimmage there between the sepoys and Beloo-

LETTER VII. 59

chees, in which the former, being caught napping^
were worsted. We stayed at this place, as I said be-
fore, a week, and started again on the 31st.

On the morning of the 2nd of April, during a
severe march of twenty- two miles, one of our men, a
straggler, who had fallen to the rear with dysentery,
was murdered by these robbers, and another man of
the 17 th cruelly wounded, but he has since recovered.
They were sitting together by the side of the road,
when of a sudden a party of Beloochees rushed out
from some low bushes, and, before either had time to
rise, fired into them. Adams, of the Queen's, re-
ceived a ball on the outside of his right thigh, passing
down, and coming out at his knee on the other side,
and cutting some particular vein or artery, which oc-
casioned his death through loss of blood. The 17th
man was hit on the right side, the ball coasting round
his body, and coming out at the other side, without
touching his tripes or any vital part. Adams had not
his firelock with him, but the 17 th man had his, but
unloaded, and, in his struggles to keep possession of
it, received some desperate sabre cuts ; but he has
since recovered. Of course he was soon overpowered,
as Adams could give no assistance. The Beloochees
then stripped them of everything, except their shirt
and trowsers, and left them to their fate, till another
man of the 17th came up, in charge of some of his
company's camels, who brought in the news to camp ;
but the apothecary who went out was too late to save

60 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

poor Adams. It was gratifying to know that Cun-
ningham, with a party of his horse, having received
intelhgence that a party of these blackguards were en-
camped in a jungle, beat through it, and followed
their tracks for fourteen miles, when he came upon
them, and killed six and took four prisoners ; Cun-
ningham having outstripped his party, killed two men
himself and took another prisoner. These rascals
were brought into camp, and strictly guarded, or I
believe they would have been torn to pieces by the
European soldiers. One of them was sworn to by the
wounded 17 th man as being one of the murderers,
and we were all in great hopes of seeing the black-
guards dancing the tight rope ; but, instead of that,
they were all brought on (except one, who being
badly wounded, died on the road) to Dadur, where
they were given up to one of the political diplomatic
gentlemen, who, it is said, actually let them go with
five rupees to carry them home. Fancy a Beloochee's
home! This was carrying the conciliation principle
far with a vengeance !

We started again at half-past twelve, on the night
of the 3rd — another night-march of nineteen miles.
Both the nights we were at this place we were
alarmed by a supposed attack of Beloochees ; but
they turned out to be nothing more than a loose horse
or two of the dragoons, for which one of their camp-
followers suffered, being taken for a Beloochee, while
running after one of the horses, and therefore cut

LETTER VII. 61

down by a dragoon on sentry. The night we left this
place was one of the most fearful I ever remember ;
it had been threatening all the afternoon, and about
eight the simoom came on with dreadful violence,
blowing for five minutes at a time, at intervals of
twenty minutes or so, until we got under weigh, at
half-past twelve. The wind, hot and scorching, like
a blast from a furnace, rushed over the country with
the violence of a hurricane, bringing with it perfect
clouds of dust and sand, so that it was totally impos-
sible to face it, except at the risk of being actually
blinded or stifled. The baggage was to have gone on
before us at nine o'clock, as the moon was expected to
be up, but the clouds of dust, &c., completely hid her
from us, and she did not shew her nose the whole
night. During the blasts it was the most perfect
" darkness visible" that you can imagine, and at the in-
tervals when it ceased, the sensation of the atmosphere
was more like standing before a hot fire than any-
thing else. I had read of these things before in
novels, travels, &c ; I now, for the first time, expe-
rienced the reality. Add to all these little annoy-
ances, we w^ere every moment expecting a rush of
Beloochees ; and if they had had the pluck of a hare,
they might have considerably crippled our proceed-
ings, by rushing in and ham-stringing our camels.
The darkness, the unavoidable confusion, the awk-
wardness of the camels themselves, all favoured them,
and I expected nothing less ; if they had been Cos-

62 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

sacks instead, they would have played the very devil
with us altogether. At length, at half-past eleven,
the baggage got off, and now for the first time with a
baggage guard, consisting of a troop, or company, from
each of the three regiments, together with all the ir-
regular horse we possessed, with strict orders that any
Beloochees shewing themselves at all near the baggage
were instantly to be cut down or bayoneted. The
main body followed in another hour, with a strong
rear-guard, to pick up stragglers, &c. These precau-
tions ought to have been taken before, and poor Adams
would have been saved. I know very little of this
march, as I remember I slept through the whole of it,
until morning, on horseback, being terribly fatigued
and worn out. The morning Avas delightfully cool,
with a fresh bracing breeze from the north. You may
well imagine how we enjoyed it, after the terrible re-
laxation of the night before. We reached our ground
about seven, at a place called Nonsherah. Here we
heard some bloody-minded reports of the Beloochees,
who had been plundering the artillery and left wing
of the 19th, which were here the day before. They
seemed, however, to have made a pretty good retalia-
tion, and four Beloochees' heads were stuck upon the
walls of the town, in proof of the soldiers' vengeance.
In consequence of there being a good baggage-guard,
the Beloochees made themselves tolerably scarce
during this march, although the ground was very fa-
vourable for them. However, they now and then took

LETTER VII. 63

long shots from the nullahs, &c., that were near the
road, but without doing any damage. At last, a sol-
dier, from the baggage-guard company of the 17th,
having occasion to fall out, and going into a nullah
for his purpose, unexpectedly found himself cheek by
jowl with thirt}^ of these rascals. He was knocked
down, but bellowing out most lustily, his section came
up, and being joined by another section of the
Queen's, they shot about six of them dead, and put
the rest to flight, having rescued the 17 th man. The
robbers at this place were rather forward, and actually
walked off with some camels that were out feeding
close to the rear of our encampment, in the middle of
the day. They were, however, all recovered very
soon by the Irregulars, and those of the robbers who
could not manage to escape, managed to get their
heads broken by these surwars; and intelligence
having been received that a whole gang, with their
families, were encamped near us, a party of fourteen,
and one jemadar, of the 1st Light Cavalry, were sent
out, who coming unexpectedly upon them, the robbers
advanced to shew fight, when the jemadar gave the
word to fire, and each trooper brought down his bird.
The rest immediately took to their heels, and owing
to the nature of the ground (it was among the hills)
effected their escape. The troopers returned to camp
with the swords and shields, &c., of the fallen. From
this place we marched again the next morning, and
a short and easy march brought us to Dadur.

64 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

June ^Ith. — I have not been able to write much
lately, as it was literally too hot to do so. We have
had it from 115 to 120 in our tents during the day ;
for the last week, however, it has been getting cooler,
and to-day is pleasant enough. T wished also to keep
the letter open as long as I could ; but now, since we
march on Sunday next, the 30th, I have not much
time left, though I have a great deal more to say. I
received by the mail the confirmation of my lieu-
tenancy, by Sir H. Fane, from Bombay. An " over-
land" arrived again here last night, but no letters or
anything for me. I see, by the English papers, that
there was a report at home that we had lost 3000
men already — the greatest lie possible. If we had
lost that, we should have lost more than half the Bom-
bay army. We have not lost more than we generally
do in quarters, though the men have been terribly
knocked up, and well they may be, with the horrible
marches they have made. I was very much amused
by the debates in Parliament, with regard to our
'^ military promenade," as some of the papers call it.
I wish I could see some of their writers on an out-
lying picket, with a prospect of a twenty miles' march,
I rather think they would not talk so much of " pro-
menading." The Bengal army, with our cavalry, and
most of the artillery, marched this morning for Cabool.
Shah Shooja goes to-morrow or next day, and we
bring up the rear, as I said before, on Sunday. How-
ever, we will talk of that anon, or I shall forget where

LETTER VII. 65

I left off. On looking back, I find that I have brought
the force up as far as Dadur. Well ; we halted there
till the 12 th. The 17 th, artillery and Irregular
Horse, however, marched before us, on the 9th.
While there, the rascally Beloochees and Kaukers
kept hovering about us, and walked off with some
camels and a horse or two. They generally, however,
paid very dearly for them, as the cavalry that were
sent after them on these occasions made a terrible
example of them.

While here we heard of a shocking murder at
Curachee. A Captain Hand, of the 1st Bombay
Grenadier Regiment, was taking his morning's ride,
when, on turning a corner on the top of a hill, he
unexpectedly found himself in the midst of about
thirty Beloochees. They talked to him very civilly,
and he allowed them to get round his horse, not sus-
pecting anything, when one rascal behind him gave
him a terrible wipe on the back of his head with his
sword, which knocked him off his horse, and the
others rushed in, and cut him to pieces. A Lieut.
Clarke, of the same corps, happened to be riding this
way, and seeing these Beloochees, asked them if they
had seen a Latich pass that way, meaning Hand ; to
which they replied by a volley from their matchlocks,
a ball from one of which struck Clarke on the leg,
and he galloped for camp as fast as he could, and fell
off his horse exhausted before the quarter-guard of
H. M. 40th regiment. A party was immediately

66 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

sent out, and they found the body of poor Hand
horribly mutilated. A good number of these rascals
have been since taken, and, I suppose, hanged ; un-
less the conciliation principle lets these rascals off also.
They belong to different bands, under different robber-
chiefs, among the hills. These robber Khans have
strongholds on the almost inaccessible mountains that
run up the v^hole west frontier of Sinde, and divide it
from Beloochistan. All merchandize and travellers
passing through Sinde to the v^est of the Indus are
obliged to pay a sort of black mail to these Khans to
be allowed to pass through ; but so bad is their name
for treachery, ferocity, &c., that few, if any, of the
traders between India and Central Asia go this
route. They do not care a farthing for the Ameers,
who also secretly connive at their proceedings, in
order to draw recruits from them on any emer-
gency.

Well ; we got the steam up again on the 12th, and,
together with the 4th Light Dragoons, and about sixty
Irregulars, started for the celebrated Bolan Pass,
with a great quantity of commissariat stores from
Bukkur, for the army in advance, under our charge.
This celebrated Pass would be the best line of com-
munication between the countries of Central Asia and
Sinde ; and as far as the Pass is concerned itself, it is
quite guiltless of the bad character it holds. It is
merely the bed of a winter torrent, and is an easy as-
cent the whole way through ; and during the greater

LETTER VII. 67

part of the year quite passable for any description of
conveyance ; but in consequence of the great number
of robbers, from all parts of Beloochistan and Sinde,
who infest it, no one thinks of travelling this route^
unless with a very strong escort. A great number,
therefore, of native merchants, &c., took advantage of
the opportunities offered by the passage of it by the
different divisions of our army. We had with us a
native horse-dealer, who had travelled the same way
down the year before, with horses for the Bombay
market, and, as he considered, with a sufficient escort ;
but they were suddenly attacked, his brother killed,
and he only saved himself by the swiftness of his horse.
These robbers are several degrees more savage than
even their brother Beloochees in the south of Sinde.
There are two clans of them. The Kaukers and
Tuckers ; of these, the Kaukers are by far the worst.
They are represented as being regular barbarians, and
are even said to be cannibals, though perhaps that is
a little too melodramatic. They possess few fire-arms,
but roll down large pieces of rock in the narrow
passes, and rush out from the small recesses of the
rocks, leading God knows where, which abound in
every part. They never spare any one, and cut and
hack about the bodies of their victims in the most
frightful manner. With all this they are the greatest
cowards possible ; a few determined men would be a
match for the greatest odds; but the very name of
Kauker seems to convey terror in it to a traveller. I

E

68 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

saw the head of one of these rascals lying about at
Dadur, and it was the most frightful face I ever
beheld, more like a wild beast's than a human being's.
On entering the Pass, which we did as if expecting
an enemy, with skirmishers, flanking parties, &c., we
were nearly stifled by the horrible smell arising from
the number of dead camels which were lying on the
ground, in every degree of putrefaction. We soon,
however, came to bodies of a different sort ; for on the
banks of a small rivulet, and in the water, most in
the long reeds, some in the middle of the road, w^ere
about twenty or thirty dead Sepoys and followers.
They were in every kind of shape and contortion that
could indicate a violent death. Some were in a tolerable
state of preservation, but others, again, had been sadly
mauled ; tripes torn out by jackals, and one or two
were perfect skeletons. We kept on coming also upon
an arm or a leg, or an ugly-looking skull; but th^
most disgusting sight was an arm and leg, protruding
out of the centre of the stream, washed to the con-
sistency of a washer-woman's hand after a hard day's
washing. If you can fancy all this on a dark, slug-
gish-looking stream, surrounded by high and barren
rocks, you may, perhaps, guess what feelings of dis-
gust it excited in us. However, before reaching Can-
dahar we were pretty well accustomed to these sights,
and got rather callous on the subject, as there was a
fair sprinkling of them to be met with all the way to
that town. Well ; we made five marches through

LETTER VII. 69

this delightful Pass, and debouched on a fine wide
plain on the 17th. Not a stick, not a particle of
forage, except some high rank grass, was to be got in
all this time, and we had been obliged to take on sup-
plies for our camels and horses from Dadur ; so there
was a new expense, and new carriage to be provided.
The robbers did not attempt any attack upon us at
all (though, if they had had the slightest pluck, they
might have crippled us pretty considerably) except in
the last march, but then we fired on them first. My
company was on baggage-guard this day, which was
sent on in advance of the column; and Halket, seeing
some of the rascals on the hills, had a crack at them
with his double-barrel, which produced a reply of
three shots from them ; but a soldier of the company
taking a beautiful aim at one of them, at a distance I
am afraid to mention, and nearly knocking a fellow's
head off, the rest took to their heels, and we saw no
more of them. Our Grenadiers, however, who were
bringing up the rear, had a slight skrimmage with
them, and killed five or six, without any of their shots
taking effect, although one man's firelock and another
man's belt were cut in half by a bullet. They fired
on the column which came on afterwards, and
wounded one trooper of the Light Dragoons, and a
few native followers, and killed three horses. Most
of us lost a deal of kit in this Pass, owing to the camels'
feet knocking up, from the sharpness of the stones ;
and the very moment the column was off the ground
E 2

70 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

the rascals would be down and fighting for what was
left behind. I was on rear-guard the second day's
march, and the very moment we cleared the ground
it was most amusing to see the rascals popping out of
the holes in the rocks in every direction.

On the ISth, we reached Siriab, where we halted for
one day. This was a rather pretty valley, with some
fruit gardens, but the fruit not ripe. Here I was
taken unwell, and obliged to go on the sick-list ; I had
been ailing some time ; the doctor, however, put me off
the list again on the 24th; but owing to the fatigue &c.
I underwent on 25th, in going through the Ghwozhe
Pass, I caught a violent fever, and the next day was laid
on my beam ends, and did not get round again till the
middle of last month. In the Ghwozhe Pass our com-
pany was on baggage guard. We left our last encamp-
ing ground at 3 a. m. on the 25th ; we had only four
miles to the Pass, and the Pass was five more, when
we reached our new ground, so it was not more than
nine miles altogether, yet it was 10 o'clock at night be-
fore the rear-guard, bringing up the fag end of the
baggage, came in. For nearly the whole of this day I
was exposed to an infernally hot sun, and the stench
arising from the dead cattle was really frightful. I
was also literally twenty-six hours without getting a
morsel to eat or a drop to drink, and but the day be-
fore on the sick-list. No wonder I was laid up !
This Ghwozhe Pass was a great deal worse than any
part of the Bolan. It was nothing but a succession of

LETTER VII. 71

tlie most difficult ascents and precipitous descents ;
the most trying kind of ground for the poor camels,
who fell down in great numbers, and in some parts
the path lay between two high rocks, and was only
four feet wide ; how the artillery got over it I cannot
imagine. A handful of determined men could, I
should think, defend it against an army. We were
on the qui vive the whole time, expecting an attack
on the baggage, but we only lost a few camels. Here
we caught up the 17th and artillery, which left
Dadur before us. If our toils had been great, those
of the 17th and artillery were twice as much, as it
took them two days and two nights to get the guns
through, and they were obliged to bivouack in the
Pass, and were attacked once or twice by the Ghil-
jees, whom, however, one section or so easily drove
off. I must now tell you that on leaving the Bolan Pass
the Kaukers &c. made their bows to us, but handed
us at the same time over to the care of their intimate
friends the Ghiljees. These are a kind of half-
civilized robbers, a large clan, and abound throughout
the whole of Afghanistan. Their chief is a friend of
Dost Mahomed. They gave us a little annoyance on
the road, but whenever they did so they managed to
get the worst of it. They murdered a few poor
camp followers. At one place they fired on some
grass-cutters belonging to the 4th Light Dragoons,
after coming among them and talking with them in a
friendly manner, as is their usual custom, in order to

72 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

ascertain what might be the chance of an attack. A
troop of that corps was immediately sent out, with
nearly all the officers. Some villagers who had been
bringing things to our camp joined the robbers, but
the 4th played the d — 1 with them, killing or wound-
ing about forty, and only one horse belonging to the
4th was wounded. Major Daly, who commands the
corps, killed four men himself with a simple bamboo
hunting spear, used for killing boars. Sir J. Keane
had fourteen of them shot that had been caught steal-
ing camels at Quittah, one march from Siriab, where
we left our sick : a brigade of the Bengal army is
quartered there.

Well ; in spite of Ghiljees, Kaukers, Passes, &c.,
we reached Candahar on the 4th of May, having only
halted two days since we left Dadur, — pretty good
work ! We were very much disappointed in the
country, which is little better than a desert, and the
weather cruelly hot. I remember very little of
what occurred after I was on the sick-list, except
that on arriving at our ground at one place, after
a march of eighteen miles, we found that the natives
had destroyed the well which was to have supplied
us with water, — pleasant news for a man laid up
with fever; in consequence of which they made a
good profit by bringing it in for sale. About as
much as would fill two moderate-sized pitchers was
sold for half a rupee, about 14:d. My European ser-
vant came and begged to be allowed to drink the water

LETTER VII. 73

in my basin with which I had just washed myself, and
before I could say anything, drank down the whole of
it with a zest as if it had been champagne.

We reached Candahar on the 4th, and on the 8th
his Majesty Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk was crowned,
after which there was a review of all the troops that
were here by his Majesty, a grand " tomasha;" but
such, I am told, was the unpopularity of the Shah
that out of the whole population of Candahar very
few persons were looking on, though the Easterns are
devoted sight-hunters. On the — he held a levee,
where every officer had the honour of making his leg
to his Majesty. I was not present at either of these
grand occasions, being at the time still on the sick-
list. I, however, had a glimpse of his Majesty the
other morning as he was taking his airing. He is a
fine-looking man, with a splendid black beard. I am
told that he is a very accomplished man, but an ex-
ceedingly bad ruler. He has written his own life,
which is said to be very interesting : I should think
it must be so, as few men have experienced so many
changes of fortune as he has. You will find a very
good description of him, as well as of Cabool and
Sinde, in " Burnes' Travels in Bokhara," the pre-
sent Sir Alexander Burnes, who is second in com-
mand to Macnaghten, and a great deal with the
Shah. I read also an excellent article on this coun-
try &c. in the last December or January number of
" Blackwood's Magazine."

74 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

Another horrible murder, somewhat similar to that
of Capt. Hand, occurred here about the middle of
last month. Two officers of the 16th Lancers, Inve-
rarity and Wilmer, went one day on a fishing excur-
sion to a small river about seven miles from this;
several parties had been there before on pic-nic
excursions, as it was much cooler, and there were
some beautiful gardens, with lots of fruit, on the banks
of the stream. There is a slight hill to be crossed in
getting to it, at the top of which is a cut-throat narrow
pass, formed out of the rock ; you must pass through it
in single file, and the bottom being of rock is so slip-
pery and rough that it is with difficulty a horse
can keep his footing on it. They were returning
home about half-past eight o'clock, when Wilmer,
being rather wrong in his stomach, got off his horse
for a short time, and Inverarity said he would walk
to the top of the hill to look at the view by moon-
light ; Wilmer followed in a few minutes on foot, his
ghorewalla following with his horse. On coming
near the top of the hill before mentioned, he was
somewhat astonished at a large stone whizzing by
his head, and immediately afterwards about six or
seven men jumped on him out of the rocks. He
had time to draw back, and received two different
cuts on his walking stick, which cut it through, and
slightly wounded him on the forehead. He managed
to draw back from another, which was made at him
with such strength that the fellow fell with the force

LETTER VII. 75

of his own blow. Wilmer then thought it was time
to cut and run, and bolted as fast as he could with
these chaps after him. They luckily, however,
stopped to rob his and Inverarity's bangles, contain-
ing their kit, which they met his servant carrying, &c.
Wilmer did not stop till he reached a detachment of
the Shah's force which is stationed there ; he returned
with a party from them, and on reaching the other
side of the hill found poor Inverarity lying on the
ground dreadfully mutilated ; he was not quite dead
when they came up, and Wilmer says he can
never forget the convulsive shudder he gave on their
arrival, taking them for the murderers returning to
finish him. He died, however, almost immediately,
merely saying, " For God's sake, look at my hands ! I
am afraid I am very badly wounded." Thus fell
another victim, as we all feel, to the conciliation prin-
ciple! Neither Inverarity's horse nor anything of
their kit has been since seen, though Wilmer has re-
covered his horse. This will give you a pretty idea
of the country we are living in. The next day there
was an order out from Sir J. Keane, in which,
after giving an account of the murder, he begged all
officers never to go out into the country on sporting
expeditions unless in large parties and w^ell armed.
The Shah and Sir John were also on the point of
burning down the village near which the murder oc-
curred, but the political department would not allow
it. Seven or eight men were, however, taken up,

E 3

76 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

though nothing certain has been proved. They are
still in chains in the town ; what will be done with
them I don't know. I always have my holster pipes,
and pistols loaded, whenever I ride out, as there is no-
thing like being prepared.

I have little to say of Candahar, which appears to
me to be just the same as every other town I have
seen in the East, very dirty, &c. It stands in a toler-
ably fertile plain, with hills scattered all round it. It
is a perfect square, each side of which is nearly a mile
in length ; two streets, one from north to south, the
other from east to west, run through it, and bisect
each other in the centre ; in these are the different
bazaars. The rest of the town, as it appeared to me as
I rode round the walls the other day, is perfectly de-
serted. There are double walls to the town, entire all
the way round, but I should think it could be easily
taken. A great number of the inhabitants have left
it on account of the dearness of provisions, occasioned
by the hungry mouths of so large a force as ours, and
also because, on his first arrival, the Shah wished to
play some of his old arbitrary acts over again.

The Ghiljees have been at their old tricks lately,
robbing some supplies for the army, which came up
by the Bolan Pass about a week ago, and which they
follow^ed nearly into our camp. The caravan, how-
ever, was under the charge of a right sort of fellow,
the Rajah of Buhawulpoor, who was bringing up a
contingent to the Shah's force, and if any of his camels

LETTER VII. 77

were taken away he took two for one from the first
village he arrived at. The Ghiljees got more bold
afterwards, and actually endeavoured to walk oif with
the camels of the Bengal army, and five or six were
taken prisoners by some Sepoys, and one blown
from a gun in the town. They, however, killed one,
and severely wounded two other unarmed soldiers of
H. M. 13th Light Infantry, who were out with the
camels of their regiment, the guard for the camels
having very quietly gone to sleep in a house. The
poor fellows made a desperate fight, defending them-
selves with their shoes ; and one of them pulled a
mounted Ghiljee oif his horse, but had his arm cut
through before he could get the fellow's sword from
him : they lost a great many camels.

June 2dth. — Well, to-morrow we are off for Cabool '->
I hope the country may improve as we advance.
Everybody speaks very highly of Cabool itself — a fine
climate, 6000 feet above the sea. It has been very hot
the whole time we have been here. They say there
is plenty of grain to be had on the road ; I hope this
may be true, and that we shall not have a repetition
of what took place before in regard to expense. I was
congratulating myself, a day or two since, on the pros-
pect of getting my back pay, but now I hear that I
shall not only be minus that, but that we are not to
get any more pay for three months, owing to some
mismanagement or other ; consequently, we shall be
obliged to get into debt, with a nice little interest to
pay off. I wish, therefore, that next year you would

78 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

give me credit for another 60/. I do not wish you to
send it out to me, but that you would let me draw
upon you as far as that sum, in case I should find it
necessary, as this campaign has sadly crippled me.
Your last 601 is nearly gone, and yet I have not spent
a farthing that I could help : this irregular way of
paying troops is very disgusting to them.

The report is now that we are not likely to have an}^
regular fighting, as it is pretty generally believed that
Dost Mahomed has agreed to our terms ; the " on dit"
is, that he is at Peshawur, and awaits our arrival in
Cabool, to give himself up to the British government.
Colonel Wade, one of the political diplomatic line, is
near Peshawur with a part of Runjet's army, but Dost
Mahomed will not surrender himself to him, nor will
Colonel Wade cross the Punjab frontiers, on account
of the great enmity which exists between the Afghans
and Sikhs : however, all this is to be proved. I wish
w^e could have one good brush with them, as we should
then have plain sailing ; as it is, I suppose we shall be
annoyed by these rascally Ghiljees all the way up : out-
lying pickets to take care of camels, &c. With regard
to the climate of this country I can say little, as we
have only been here during the hot weather, and hot
we have found it with a vengeance ; but then we have
been living in tents. One man of ours has died by a
coup de soleil ; he was one of the camel guard. I do
not consider the climate an unhealthy one. It is a very
lucky thing for us that we were not left in Sinde : the
troops left there have suffered terribly. Sinde is one of

LETTER VII. 79

the hottest places in the world, and very unhealthy; in
fact, I consider it to be about one of the most disgust-
ing countries in the world. The 17th regiment lost
an officer there under very melancholy circumstances.
He was coming up to join his regiment, having been
only lately appointed to it, and lost his way in that
dreadful desert I told you of, where he wandered in
a wretched state for two days, during which time the
simoom came on, and he died from its effects a short
time after reaching his tent ; the simoom was still so
violent that his servants were obliged to dig his grave
inside his tent: his body turned black immediately
after death.

We have had excellent European fruit here, and
the gardens about the place are very large and beau-
tiful— peaches, apricots, cherries, apples, grapes, and
mulberries. I never tasted anything more delicious
than the melons here. You cannot imagine, in your
temperate climate, how refreshing they are on a hot
day ; but, then, they are said to be very dangerous.
The vegetables, too, are good, particularly to those
who had been without them so long as we had. There
are peas, beans, salad, cucumber, but, unfortunately,
no potatoes; what would we not give for a nice
mealy murphy ! we have not tasted one for four
months ; however, in all these respects Cabool is much
superior. What we shall do when we reach that place
I cannot imagine, — one thing, the Hindoo Koosh, pre-
vents our marching further. The report is, that if every-
thing goes smooth we shall go back again this year ;

80 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

but this I do not believe, as I hardly think it probable
that the government would be at such expense in
marching us such a distance just to keep us at Cabool
for a month, and if we overstay that it will be too late,
and the snow and severity of the climate will hinder
our returning. Moreover, Runjet Sing is very ill, and,
they say, is likely to kick, in which case there will, I
take it, be a regular shindy in the Punjab ; and John
Company, when he has once put his foot into a
country, does not withdraw it very soon. Besides,
there is Herat and Persia to be looked to. For my
part, I have no objection to a winter in Cabool ; and
if we can only get up our supplies in the liquor line,
we shall, I have no doubt, make ourselves very com-
fortable. The 16th Lancers have an excellent pack
of foxhounds with them, and horses are very cheap.
There are to be races &c. on a grand scale also when
we get there : and if we can get our supplies up by that
time, we may look forward to spending a merry Christ-
mas even in such a distant country. How curious all
this must sound to you in your quiet, lovely home of
Brookhill. I have often thought of you all during
this campaign, particularly the other day, when I had
the fever ; and I hope and trust my life may be spared
that I may see you all once more, particularly as I
have never seen you at Brookhill.

With regard to myself, my health, with the excep-
tion of the fever, has been much better than I could
have expected, considering what we have gone through.
I have, however, been sadly bothered the whole time

LETTER VII. 81

I have been in the country with rheumatism ; at times,
during the march, I was so bad with it that I could
not walk ten minutes at a time. I have also had ter-
rible pains in the joints of my arms, and have them
still, and it is with difficulty I can get a gun to my
shoulder. I can walk pretty well now, but running
is totally out of the question ; so that I am afraid I
should come off poorly in a hand-to-hand encounter
with these rascals. I applied to the doctor for some
medicine, but he said " he could give me none ;" in
fact, they will not give an officer any medicine now
unless he is very seriously ill, as they are very short of
medical stores.

I hope you may be able to get through this letter ;
the blue paper I have been writing on is Russian, and
bought in Candahar. I do not think I have anything
more to say. I will write again when I reach Cabool.
Tell Kate I will write to her too : I hope she got my
letter which I wrote in January last under cover to
you.

With best love to all at home.

Believe me your very affectionate son,

T. W, E. HOLDSWORTH.

P.S. — By-the-bye, there is an officer here inH. M.
13th Light Infantry, with the Bengal force, who
knows Arthur very well, in fact, I think a great deal
better than I do myself. His name is Wood ; he is

82 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

a Canterbury man, and seems to know Mr. Baylay
and everybody else there. He was in the 48th when
Arthur was at Canterbury wdth the 4th Drag. Guards.
He desired to be kindly remembered to Arthur when I
wrote. I hope Eliza's hooping-cough is well. I was
very sorry to hear of poor Sluman's death : as far back
as I can recollect he is always associated in my mind
with home. I hope Ghiljee, Kauker, Beloochee,
and Co., will let this pass.

83

LETTER VIII.

Camp, near Ghuzni, July 24th, 1839.

My dear Father, — You must put down yesterday,
the 23rd of July, in your memorandum book as a
memorable day for your son Tom, and, I may say, for
the British army. Ghuzni, the strongest fortress in
Afghanistan, was taken by assault in three-quarters
of an hour, by the four European regiments of the
army — viz., the Queen's, 13th Light Infantry, 17th
regiment, and Bengal European regiment. The
storming party, or forlorn hope, consisted of the
Light Companies of the four regiments. The whole
right in front — ergo, our company (the Light Com-
pany of the Queen's) was the first in. I may well
remember it, as it was the first time I smelt gun-
powder and saw blows given in real earnest. It is the
most splendid thing for us that could have happened :
if we had failed, we should have had the whole

84 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

countrj down upon us in a few days ; now, they say,
the country is ours.

It is reported that Sir J. Keane was so very
anxious about it, that when he heard our first cheers,
after entering the gate of the town, he actually cried,
it was such a relief to his mind; and that he told
Brigadier Sale, lieutenant-colonel of the 13th Light
Infantry, who commanded on the occasion, that it was
very likely that the fate of India depended on our
taking this place. Ghuzni was considered Dost
Mahomed's principal fortress : his son commanded in
it, and it was garrisoned by 3000 Afghans. Young
Dost expected to hold it out for a fortnight ; and his
father was to have come to his relief in a day or two,
when we should have had a difficult part to perform,
as we should have been surrounded in this valley by
armed parties on all sides ; so that it would have been
really a ticklish job. They had collected provisions
in the town for three months, and arms and ammuni-
tion ; in fact, it was the regular depot for their army.
They had also about four or five lacs of rupees ; but
that will not give us much prize money. Our loss
was very trifling, owing to the daring and sudden
nature of the attack, as they were taken totally by
surprise. Our regiment suffered the most, and we
have thirty-seven killed and wounded, including of-
ficers, of whom six out of eighteen were wounded —
one-third of the whole, — however, none of the latter
dangerously, thank God, though two of them are re-

LETTER VIII. 85

turned severely wounded. Five men of our regiment
were killed outright on the spot, and I am afraid we
shall lose some more in a few days from the effects of
their wounds. Of the enemy, about 500 were killed,
and more than 1500 made prisoners; and of the re-
mainder, who made their escape over the walls, the
greater part were cut down by the Dragoons, or spiffli-
cated by the Lancers. Among the prisoners is young
Dost himself, the greatest prize of all. More than a
thousand magnificent horses have also been taken, be-
sides pack-horses, camels, and grain in abundance.
However, I never can tell a story without going back
to the very commencement.

I finished my last letter to you the day before we
left Candahar. Well; we started on Sunday, the
30th of June, and made seven marches to Belanti
Ghiljee, where we caught up the Shah's army, v/ith a
Bengal division. Here Sir John Keane had first
come in sight of young Dost's army, who, however,
retired very quickly, though there was some talk of
their holding out at this place, and we were pushed
on rapidly in consequence. They shewed their
sense in not holding out there, as it would not have
taken us long to dislodge them. We halted here a
day, and then marched on by very short and easy
marches, halting every third or fourth day, and taking
things very easy, although we were constantly an-
noyed by the Ghiljees, who murdered several of our
camp followers, and tried to rob us whenever they

86 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

could find an opportunity, until we were within five
good marches of Ghuzni, when General Willshire
received an order to push on by forced marches, and
to make these five into three. After making two out
of these three, (and precious long ones they were,)
we found out that we were still upwards of twenty
miles from Ghuzni, with the men so fatigued that it
was nearly impossible for them to do it, and that we
should therefore be obliged to make two of it. The
event, how^ever, proved the contrary ; for, about seven
o'clock in the evening, a dispatch came from General
Willshire, and about eight, just as we were preparing
to turn in, the orders were out to strike our tents, and
march in an hour's time, and catch up Sir John Keane
and the Shah, who were halted about nine miles in
advance of us. Sir John was anxious to have the
whole force concentrated before marching on Ghuzni.
Nothing, however, was certain ; and we were all in
a high state of excitement, not knowing what to
expect : this was the evening of the 20th. We made
quick work of this march, and reached Sir John
Keane about half-past twelve. Here we heard that
Sir John Keane was in expectation of a night attack.
He l\ad fallen in that morning with the advance of
the enemy, who had, however, upon the appearance
of the British force, retired upon Ghuzni. We
bivouacked on our ground, after throwing out strong
pickets, and marched again at 5 a. m., Sir John
Keane, the Bengalees, and cavalry in advance, then

LETTER VIII. 87

the Shah, and then our small party. We, however,
sent our artillery to join Sir John. About eight
o'clock, when within about three miles of Ghuzni,
we heard the first symptoms that the game of war was
beginning: our batteries were firing on the place,
and the garrison were returning it with good effect ; it
served as a sort of overture to the opera in which we
knew we must soon be actors.

In consequence of the great quantity of baggage,
now the whole army was joined, we were halted for a
couple of hours to protect it, and the whole of the
cavalry was sent back for that purpose ; and well it
was that they were, as a part of the enemy's cavalry
made a demonstration for attacking it, but withdrew
on seeing ours. We were at length marched on, and
took up our ground a little to the S.W. of the fort,
but out of harm's way, when we heard a more definite
account of what had been done. The advance of
the Bengal column, H. M. 13th Light Infantry and
the 16th Native Infantry, had some little work in
driving the enemy out of the gardens and old build-
ings that surround the town. This, however, they
accomplished with a trifling loss ; our guns then opened
on the place, but as they were light ones (the heaviest
being still in the rear), with little effect. This desultory
fire on both sides was, however, kept up for about
three hours : little execution being done, and a few
casualties having occurred among the artillery. Sir
John Keane ordered the guns to be withdrawn. We

88 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

had not been on our ground more than three hours
when we were ordered once more on the march, and
to march by a circuitous route across the mountains,
in order to avoid the fire of the town, and take up our
ground on the other side of it. We reached our new
ground about nine, after a fatiguing march of seven
miles, crossing the river, and, by an infernal path,
through the hills. Here we bivouacked again for the
night, as little of our baggage had arrived.

The enemy took this move of ours as a defeat, and
concluded that we had marched on to Cabool, de-
spairing of taking their fort : the event proved how
wofully they were mistaken ! They wasted a good
deal of powder in firing for joy, and young Dost
sent a dispatch from the place to his father, apprizing
him of the fact, and begging him to come down upon us
immediately, while he would follow upon our rear.
He also sent to a Ghiljee chieftain near us, telling
him to collect as many followers and country people
as he could to make an attack upon our baggage, as
he had only to come down and take it. We sold this
fellow a bargain, however, the next day. Well ; the
first thing we heard the next morning was from
young Keane, and to this effect, that we were to
rest for that day, and that the four European corps
were to storm the place the next morning before day-
light, as the state of the country was such that Sir
John could not waste time in breaching it ; and,
moreover, it was doubtful whether, from the nature

LETTER VIII. 89

of the walls, it could be breached at all. We did
not, however, learn the final dispositions till the
evening.

That day, the 22nd, I shall never forget ; it was
a very dismal one ; much more so than the next.
There was a nervous irritability and excitement
about us the whole day ; constantly looking at the
place through spy-glasses, &c. ; and then fellows
began to make their wills, and tell each other what
they wished to have done in case they fell ; alto-
gether it was not at all pleasant, and every one longed
most heartily for the morrow, and to have it over.
I felt as I used to do when I was a child, and knew
I must take a black dose or have a tooth drawn the
next morning. About twelve o'clock a great deal of
firing took place on our left ; this we soon ascertained
to be the Ghiljee chief I have before mentioned,
coming down with the amiable purpose of lootzing
our camp. A part of the Shah's Afghan cavalry, a
few guns of the Horse Artillery, and a squadron of
Lancers, were ordered out, who soon sent them to the
right-about. The chief, when he saw that it was not
such an easy job as he expected, cut his stick the first,
with his horsemen, about 2000, leaving the poor foot-
pads, about 1000, to shift for themselves. They were
terribly mauled, and a great number of prisoners
taken, whose heads the Shah struck off immediately.
Well ; evening came at last ! and then we heard the
morning's news confirmed; that the Light Companies

90 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

of the four corps were to form the storming party, that
an Engineer officer, with some Sappers, each carry-
ing a bag of gunpowder (in all SOOlbs.), was to ad-
vance to the Cabool gate, and place it there, in order
to blow it down ; that immediately upon the gates fall-
ing we were to rush in and take possession of the
town, &c. At the same time a false attack was to be
made by the 16th Bengal Native Infantry on the
Candahar gate, in order to divert the enemy's atten-
tion. Brigadier Sale, lie ut. -colonel of the 13th, was
to command the whole, and Col. Dennie, of the same
corps, the storming party. Three regiments of Na-
tive Infantry were to be in reserve, under Sir Wil-
loughby Cotton ; and the cavalry were to be stationed
so as best to intercept the flight of those who might
manage to make their escape from the place. We
were to be formed ready for the attack at two o'clock in
the morning, close to a high pillar, about half a mile
from the fort ; we were to advance under cover of the
Artillery, who were to fire over and clear the walls
for us. I laid down in my cloak directly after mess,
and, being dreadfully tired, never slept more soundly
than I did the night before the storming of Ghuzni.

At one o'clock we turned out ; I took a cup of tea
and a couple of ginger biscuits, and joined my com-
pany : in a quarter of an hour we were on our march
to the pillar, where we were to be formed. Here we
found Col. Sale and the Engineer officers, &c. Col.
Sale called out the officers, and told them the plan of

LETTER VIII. 91

the attack, which was to be the same as mentioned be-
ore, except that the 13th Light Infantry were to hne
the ditch outside the town, and fire on the ramparts,
while we advanced. The storming party. Queen's
and Bengal European regiments, were, after entering
the gate, to move along a street to the left, clearing
the houses, &c., and on arriving at the end to mount
the ramparts, and to return by them. Our object in
doing this was to drive as many men as possible into the
citadel, and having obtained this object, a signal was
to be given, and the artillery were to fire shells into
the citadel, which, particularly as their powder maga-
zine was there, it was expected would soon make them
cut and run. The 17th and 13th regiments being
nearest, were then to rush up and take possession of
the citadel, and the Native regiments, being in re-
serve, were to assist them. Col. Sale then said a few
words of encouragement, and concluded by hoping
" we should all have luck" — on the whole a very
neat and appropriate speech. We then piled arms,
and officers fell out. I never saw fellows more merry
than most of us were while we were waiting there ; in
fact, if we had been going to the most delightful place
in the world, we could not have appeared in better
spirits ; and this put me strongly in mind of a scene I
had read in a book called " The Subaltern," where
the feelings of the officers, waiting for an attack, are
described as being just the same. At length, " bang"
went a gun from our batteries. Col. Sale said, " Ah,

F

92 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

there goes the signal; we had better be starting:"
just as if one was to get ready to take a ride to Brix-
ham or elsewhere. Well ; we fell in, and in about a
quarter of an hour off we went. The enemy returned
the fire from our batteries in good style, and there
was a regular row. They pointed their " Long Tom,"
a fifty-two pounder, towards us, and sent the shot
over our heads and a little to our left. The ball
made a terrific row rushing over us. Whilst we were
marching down to the attack the fire on both sides
was at its height. The noise was fearful, and the
whole scene the grandest and, at the same time,
the most awful I ever witnessed. I caught myself,
once or twice, trying to make myself as small as I
could. As we got nearer the gate it grew worse, and
the enemy, from their loop-holes, began to pepper us
with matchlocks and arrows. The scene now was
splendid. The enemy, at the commencement of the
firing, threw out blue lights in several places, which
looked beautiful, and the flames of their and our artil-
lery, together with the smaller flashes from the match-
lock men, added to the roar of their big guns, the
sharp cracking of the matchlocks, the whizzing of
their cannon balls and ours, (the latter of which, by-
the-bye, went much nearer our heads than the enemy's^
as our artillery fired beautifully, and sent their shot
close over our heads, on the ramparts,) the sing-
ing of the bullets, and the whizzing of their arrows, all
combined, made up as pretty a little row as one

LETTER VIII. 93

would wish to hear. Add to this, that it was as dark
as pitch, and you may judge of the effect. We made
a rush over the bridge, which the enemy had not de-
stroyed, and continuing it up a sHght ascent, we found
ourselves of a sudden close to the gate. Here there
was a check. Although the gate was blown down,
still the remains of it, and the barricade on the inside,
rendered it a difficult place to get over, particularly as
it wanted at least half an hour of daylight, and was
perfectly dark. The two first sections were therefore
a long time getting through, during which the two
last, to which I belonged, were standing still outside,
exposed to a cross fire from two round towers, which
flanked the entrance. Our men, however, kept up
such a smart fire upon every hole and opening that no
man dared shew his nose, and their fire was therefore
rendered harmless. At length we moved in, and
found that, besides what I have mentioned above,
there was a large hole in the roof of the portico over
the gate, through which the enemy were pitching
earth, beams of wood, stones, &c. ; one of these
beams knocked over my European servant, who was
next to me, and dislocated his arm, and, taking me in
the flank, made me bite the dust also ; however, I
had no further hurt than a slight bruise, and was up
again immediately, as I heard one of the soldiers say,
" Oh ! there is poor Mr. Holdsworth : he's down !"

On getting within the gate a few volleys cleared the
opening of the street. Robinson, (our captain,) Col.

F 2

94 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

Sale, with Kershaw and Wood of the 13th, Sale's staff,
(the latter the man who knew Arthur at Canterbury,)
were the first in. Poor Col. Sale got a cut in the
mouth, and fell upon Kershaw, who went down with
him ; on rising, an Afghan was lifting his sword to
cut down Sale, when Kershaw seized the hilt of his
sword, and ran his own into him. Robinson also got
a terrible cut on the side of his head, which would have
done his business for him if he had not had on a cap
padded with cotton, which deadened the weight of the
blow. All the companies of the storming party, however,
got in well, except the last, the light company of the
Bengal European regiment, and they had a desperate
fight, the enemy having returned to the gate in great
numbers, and twenty-seven men of the company were
laid low in no time. After this every company that
came in had a shindy at the gate ; the fact was, that
the enemy took every company for the fast, and there-
fore made a desperate attempt to escape through it.
Our company, with the advance, pushed through the
town, clearing the tops of the houses. We only lost
one man of our company ; we thought he was done
for at first, but he is still alive, and, I am glad to say,
likely to do well; he was shot right through the
breastplate, and the ball went round his body and was
taken out of his back ; he is to wear the same breast-
plate in future. On coming to the end of the town
we halted, and were agreeably surprised, shortly after,
to see the British flag waving on the top of the citadel:

LETTER VIII. 95

the fact of the matter was, that the enemy never
thought of retiring to the citadel at all, but endea-
voured to make their escape directly they found we
were inside the gates; the 17th and ISth, therefore,
quietly marched up and took possession of it.

We now returned by the ramparts, taking a great
number of prisoners, and on reaching the large street
where the horses were, the scene was perfectly ridi-
culous ; the horses were loose, and running and charg-
ing about in all directions, kicking, fighting, &c. On
getting near the gate we entered by, the eifects of our
fight became more apparent, as dying and dead Af-
ghans testified. There were eight lying at one par-
ticular spot, where a tumbril had blown up, and their
bodies were still burning from the effects. I never
saw finer men than some of these Afghans — they
were perfect models. The plunder now began, though
to little purpose, as prize agents were at the gates
and made most of us refund. I managed, however,
to get through a rather handsome spear, which I took
from before the tent of one of the chiefs. If the care-
lessness of my servants will allow it I mean to keep it
till we get back, whenever that may be, and send it
home by some trusty person, when perhaps you may
think it worthy of a place among your curiosities at
Brookhill, The 13th and 17th, however, had the best
of it in the citadel, which was also the palace, and
where all young Dost's women were. I hear that the
soldiers have possession of some very handsome articles

96 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

which they boned there I believe. After this, young
Dost, or, to give him his right name, Hyder Khan,
was found in a large hole near the citadel, with about
twenty followers ; they had some work, however, in
securing him. About this time I saw the Shah, with
the diplomatic people, Sir J. Keane, and Sir W. Cotton,
enter the fort and proceed to the citadel. The old
Shah was mightily delighted, as well he might be, and
expressed himself in raptures with the European sol-
diery. I was back again to breakfast at mess by eight
o'clock. Several of our men were wounded by arrows.
One soldier swore " that a fellow had shot his ramrod
into him." Stisted had an arrow through the calf of
his leg, but his wound is not considered of any im-
portance.

Juli/ 30th, — Sir J. Keane, with the greater part of
the army, marched this morning for Cabool ; ours (the
Bombay division) march to-morrow. Although the
greater part of the town was taken in the -way I have
described, still a party of about 100 men, under Dost
Mahomed's standard-bearer, (a great man, of course,)
held out till the next day, when they were all taken,
and soon afterwards shot. They certainly must have
been assisted by some Europeans, as their powder was
made up in a very scientific manner, and their grape
was exceedingly well put together. Young Dost can-
not imagine how the gate was blown down ; he thinks,
I hear, that we shot two men inside the fort from a
big gun, who opened the door for us. He was sleep-

LETTER VIII. 97

ing over it at the time ; the explosion must have " as-
tonished him a few, I guess." He sajs some of his fa-
ther's best soldiers have fallen there ; and one man in
particular, a great chief, said to be the best swordsman
between Cabool and Candahar. I have been in the
fort since, and I am glad we took it in the dark, as it
is not at all a nice looking place by daylight. The
rooms in the citadel are very fine, particularly where
the women were, the ceilings of which are inlaid with
gold work. All our sick and wounded are to be left
here : we only leave one officer behind, poor Young,
who was shot through the thigh very near the groin.

Reports have been very various since the fall of
Ghuzni whether Dost himself will fight or not. It
seems to be generally expected that we shall have an-
other shindy before we get to Cabool, though a great
number of chiefs have lately come in to the Shah,
among the principal of whom is Hadjee Khan Kauker,
the governor of Bamian, a man of great influence in
the country, and a great intriguer, formerly a great
friend of Dost Mahomed's. He came in to us about
three hours after the place had fallen : he had been
waiting on the top of a hill to see the result, and was
prepared to join whichever side was victorious. I must
tell you, also, that on the 21st, the day we marched
upon Ghuzni, another son of Dost was waiting out-
side the town to attack us with about three thousand
men ; but on seeing the size of our army he thought
better of it, and cut for Cabool as fast as he could ; he
was deserted on the way by most of his army, and

98 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

reached Cabool with scarcely a follower : his father
was exceedingly enraged, and is said to have put him
in prison.

Sunday, 28th. — The day before yesterday. Dost
Mahomed's brother, a man who has always favoured
the English, and advised Dost to have nothing to do
with the Persians, &c., but who lives quite retired,
and has very little to do with politics, came into our
camp to endeavour to make terms for his brother ; but,
it is said, neither party was satisfied : they say that
lie was disgusted at our proposals, and replied, '^ that
Dost would rather lose his life than accept them."
Dost wants to be made the Shah's vizier ; but that, of
course, could not be allowed. How it will end no one
knows : however, a few days will shew. We have had
several deserters from Dost's army ; they say he is en-
camped, and has thrown up strong entrenchments
about three miles in front of Cabool. I should hardly,
however, think that the people of Cabool will allow
his doing so, as there are several rich people in it who
would not like to see Ghuzni reacted at their own
door. There would be lots of prize money for us.
Talking of prize money, I am afraid there will not be
very much, though the things that were taken sold
remarkably well, as did also the horses, &c. I managed
to buy, though for much beyond its value, a rather
pretty coverlet for a bed, which was taken in the fort,
which perhaps belonged to some of the young ladies of
the harem ; it is of shawl velvet, and said to be made
in Cashmere. I intend to send it home with the

LETTER VIII. 99

spear, and give it to Kate ; though what use she can
put it to I hardly know, as I am sure it will not be
large enough for her bed; still, when one considers
whence it was taken, it may possess some little in-
terest. Young Dost is left behind in the fort, which
is to be strongly garrisoned, and where we leave all
our sick and wounded.

The climate of this place is delightful ; it is about
6000 feet above the level of the sea; and although
this is the hottest month in the year, still we do not
find it at all unpleasant, living in tents : a delightful
change from Candahar. There is the most beautiful
clover here I ever saw, and lots of fruit.

We have just received intelligence of Runjet Sing's
death ; he has been reported dead several times be-
fore ; but they say this time it is really the case ; if so,
we are still only at the beginning of our work, as we
shall most likely have something to do in the Punjab.
The government, it is said, have guaranteed the suc-
cession of Runjet's son, who is little better than a na-
tural idiot. The chiefs of the Sikhs, who are very
warlike people, and have often licked the Afghans,
say they will not consent to be ruled by such a person,
— thereon hangs the matter. A large force has been
gradually concentrating at Delhi, Meerut, Loodiana,
and all the north-west stations in Bengal, ready to
march into the Punjab in case of Runjet's death,
which has been long expected ; and we very likely
shall make an advance by the line of the Cabool river

F 3

100 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

to Peshawur, and Attock, on the Indus. It is rather
late to begin a campaign after marching more than a
thousand miles, and not meeting an enemy except
robbers. If I ever do get home safe and sound after
all this work, I shall consider myself very lucky.

July Z\st. — Here we are, our first day's march to
Cabool. Reports still flying about as to whether Dost
means to fight. I wore the pistols you gave me in
London at the storming, — they are a capital pair!
The post goes directly, so I must conclude, with best
love to all, your very affectionate son,

T. W. E. HoLDSWORTH.

P.S. — They say Shah Shooja will give us all
medals when everything is settled ; those for the
officers to be a small gold one, with an impression of
the Fort of Ghuzni ; those for the soldiers to be silver,
and the same pattern. If you look into the military
papers when this reaches you, I dare say you will find
further accounts of the business.

Note. — " It was arranged that an explosion party, consisting of
three officers of engineers (Capt. Peat, Lieuts, Durand and M'Leod),
three Serjeants and eighteen men of the sappers in working dresses,
carrying three hundred pounds of powder in twelve sand bags, with
a hose seventy-two feet long, should be ready to move down to the
gateway at break of day.

" So quickly was the operation performed, and so little was the
enemy aware of the nature of it, that not a man of the party was
hurt." — From Memoranda of Capt. Thompson, R.E., Chief Engineer,
Army of Indus.

101

LETTER IX.

Memorandum. — I have lost this letter, which I
regret the more, because it gave a very full account
both of Cabool and its environs, as well as of many
interesting circumstances which took place during the
time the Bombay division of the army remained
there.

As far as I remember its contents, it began with the
march of the army from Ghuzni to Cabool, the de-
sertion of the troops of Dost Mahomed, and his flight
from the capital. It described his pursuit by a party
of officers and cavalry, volunteers from the British
army, commanded by Captain Outram, who accom-
panied Hadjee Khan Kaukjer, the principal chief of
the country, with a body of 2000 Afghans, who had
joined Shah Shooja at Ghuzni.

It stated, that after a few days had expired, the
party had nearly reached the fugitive, when Hadjee
Khan refused to proceed, stating, amongst other ex-

102 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

cuses, that his men had dispersed to plunder, and that
he had not any means of preventing it; and Cap-
tain Outram was obliged to proceed without him. It
had been supposed by Shah Shooja, that Hadjee
Khan had been so committed with Dost Mahomed
that he might be safely trusted upon this occasion ;
but there is not the least doubt but that he was en-
gaged in correspondence with him during the whole
time, and that Dost Mahomed was thus enabled to
effect his escape with his family, although Captain
Outram with his party pursued him as far as Bamian.
If Hadjee Khan had not acted in this most treacher-
ous way, there could not be a doubt but that Dost
Mahomed must have fallen into the hands of Captain
Outram. Thus Hadjee Khan proved his double trea-
chery ; for which, on his return to Cabool, it was
understood the Shah would, have put him to death,
but for the presence of the English, upon whose
interference his sentence was changed to perpetual
confinement in one of the state prisons.

It described, also, the arrival of the eldest son of
Shah Shooja, with the contingent from Runjet Sing ;
his meeting with his youngest brother on the road,
near the city, who went out for that purpose upon an
elephant, richly caparisoned, attended by a suitable
cortege ; his reception by the British army, and
afterwards by his father, at the Bala Hissar, where
my son mixed with the troops of the Shah, who filled
the palace yard, and was thus enabled to witness the

LETTER IX. 103

first interview, which was anything but that which
might have been expected when the eldest son arrived at
the palace to congratulate his father on his restoration
to his throne. The King was seated alone in an open
balcony, slightly raised above the court, where his
officers of state were ranged on either side, on the
ground. The Prince advanced through a line of
troops and public officers, but did not raise his eyes
from the ground. When he came near his father, he
prostrated himself in submission to the King, who
called to him " that he was welcome ;" after which
the son ascended to the balcony, where he again made
a prostration, when his father raised him up, and
seated him near him. The peculiarly careful conduct
of the son on his approach appears to have arisen
from a consciousness of his father's jealous and sus-
picious temper, and a fear lest even a smile inter-
changed with a friend at the court might be construed
into hidden treachery. Soon after this, the chief per-
sons of the court made their salutations to the King,
to each of whom he said a few words, and the cere-
mony was ended.

My son added, that he little expected when he
was at the levee of his late Majesty King William,
before he left England, that the next ceremony of the
sort at which he should be present would be that of
the King of Afghanistan, in Central Asia, a person
with whose name and country he had not then the
slightest acquaintance.

104 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

The youngest son of Shah Shooja, whom I have
mentioned, is described as a beautiful boy, under
twelve years of age, ruddy and fair as an English
child. He is a great favourite with his father at pre-
sent, and usually accompanies the Shah wherever he
goes. His childhood probably protects him from
suspicion of treachery or intrigue.

My son appeared to have mixed occasionally with
the inhabitants of Cabool, and, through the introduq-
tion of the Persian interpreter, to have become per-
sonally acquainted with some of the leading persons of
the city. They are described by him as being parti-
cularly affable and civil to the officers of our army,
with some of whom he paid a visit to a man of rank,
at his country-house, and with whom they dined.
Nothing could exceed the attention of their host. He
shewed them his stud, consisting of more than fifty
horses, and every other thing that he possessed, (ex-
cept his women,) and the hospitality and good fare
was unbounded. Neither was the curiosity of these
persons less in inquiring minutely into everything
they saw when they visited the officers in the camp,
than their desire to please in their own houses ;
and he appeared to have left the place with a most
favourable impression of the upper ranks of the
city.

Of the city itself, its magnificent bazaar, filled with
the richest manufactures of the East, its gardens
abounding with the finest fruits in the world, and the

LETTER IX. 105

fertile country that surrounds it, his description is
the same as that which will be found much more at
length in the Travels of Lieut. Burnes, in 1832.

Cricket and horse-racing appeared to be the chief
recreation of the army during the time it remained
inactive; and the two divisions having fortunately
come from different Presidencies, the same spirit of
rivalry amongst the officers, in the sports of the camp,
was as naturally excited at Cabool as in any of the
counties or garrisons of their native land.

The evening before they left their ground, two
miles from Cabool, he was sent with a subaltern's
party to search through all the worst parts of the
city for men who were missing from the camp, but
after spending many hours, he returned without find-
ing any. They had been paid the day before, and
had got away to the liquor-shops ; but all turned up
in the morning except one, whose body was found
murdered, near the camp.

A. H. HOLDSWORTH.

106 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

LETTER X.

Camp at Kotree, in Cutch Gundava,
December 8tli, 1839.

My dear Father, — As I am now tolerably re-
covered, and my wounds nearly healed, I take the
first opportunity (as my arm is losing its stiff-
ness) of writing to you, as I have no doubt you
will be very anxious to hear how I am going on. I
desired Stisted, the day after the taking of Kelat,
to write, as I was myself then unable. I have no
doubt but that he did so; yet I know you must
have been anxious before you heard the final result ;
and I am now happy to inform you that I am get-
ting rapidly well, and expect in a short time to be out
of the ^' sick list." My wound was esteemed a rather
ugly one at first ; and I must consider it one of the
most fortunate cases of Providence that the bullet
took the direction it did, as had it swerved in the
least degree it must have gone through my lungs, or

LETTEa X. 107

downward through my liver; and in either case
would most likely have done my business completely.
As the man who fired at me was so very close, the
ball went clear through, and so saved me from the
unpleasant process of having it extracted by the doctor,
&c. I had my right flank exposed to the man who
pinked me, and so the ball passed through my right
arm into my right side, and passing downwards to the
rear, came out at my back, about an inch from the
back-bone. Had it passed to the front instead of to
the rear, I should have most assuredly left my bones
at Kelat : as it was, from my coughing up a toler-
able quantity of blood when I was first hit, the doc-
tor imagined that my lungs had been affected, and for
a couple of days, as I have since heard, was very
doubtful as to my eventual recovery. However, I
may now, I believe, consider myself completely out
of the wood.

I find I have not written since the last day I was
at Cabool ; and I have had few opportunities of doing
so, as we have been on the move ever since, and
until we reached Kelat there was very little to write
about. We broke ground and marched to the other
side of Cabool on Monday, the 16th of September,
and halted on the 17th for a grand tomasha at the
Bala Hissar, or Shah's Palace, being no less than the
investiture of the order of the Doorannee Pearl, which
was conferred by Shah Shooja on the big-wigs of
the army. Sir John Keane, Sir Willoughby Cotton,

108 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

and Mr. Macnaghten get the first order; generals
of divisions and brigadiers, the second ; and all field
officers engaged at Ghuzni and heads of depart-
ments, the third ; for the rest, all officers engaged at
Ghuzni get a gold medal, and the soldiers a silver
one : however, all this depends on the will and sanc-
tion of Queen Victoria.

On Wednesday, the 18th, we took our final leave
of Cabool and its beautiful environs, and reached
Ghuzni on the 26th, where we halted two days, and
then struck off in a new direction, straight across coun-
try to Quettah, by a new road, and very little known,
leaving Candahar to our right, and thereby cutting off
a considerable angle. Our object in doing this was, be-
sides saving distance, to afford assistance, if required, to
Captain Outram, who had preceded us by about a
week, and was gone with some of the Shah's force into
the Ghiljee country, and was employed in destroying
the forts, &c., of some of the refractory Ghiljee chiefs.
He captured one fort, in which were found forty or
fifty fellows who were identified as being the same
men who had murdered so many camp followers and
some of our officers during our march through the
country. I saw them at Ghuzni, where they were
under confinement, and about to be executed in a few
days, as I was told. About eight marches from-
Ghuzni, Outram sent to General Willshire for as-
sistance, as his force was not sufficient ; he was then
before the largest of these hill forts, belonging to one

LETTER X. 109

of the most influential and refractory of the chiefs,
and who had given us a great deal of annoyance in
our way up. A wing of the 19th Native Infantry,
some Artillery, and the Light Companies were there-
fore sent to his assistance ; but they made a miserable
failure, as the chief, putting himself at the head of
about a hundred faithful followers, dashed through
their pickets at night, and made his escape with all his
valuables, and without losing a man. We marched at
an easy pace, detaching a force now and then to take
a fort, which was invariably found deserted on our
approach. Nevertheless, we had hard work of it, as
our route lay through and over high and barren moun-
tains, with scarcely an inhabitant or village to be seen,
and nothing to be got for our cattle. For three days
my horse, and those of most of us, lived on bushes
and rank grass that we found occasionally. We had
to depend on our commissariat for everything ; and
they found it difficult to supply grain for the staff
and field officers' horses, so, of course, ours were quite
left out of the question. Guns, powder, and shot
were in great requisition; and, luckily, hares and
Khorassan partridges were tolerably abundant. At
times, even our guides confessed themselves at fault,
so difficult was it to make our way through such
a country. However, one thing was greatly in
our favour — we had a splendid, bracing climate the
whole way, the nights and mornings being " rayther'^
too cold, the thermometer ranging at that time be-

110 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

tween 20 and 30 degrees. The poor Sepoys and
camp-followers, however, suiFered severely. We ex-
perienced scarcely the slightest annoyance from the
inhabitants, although we passed through the most dis-
affected part of the country — viz., the Ghiljee country,
and latterly through the heart of the Kauker country,
whose chief, Hadjee Khan Kauker, is a prisoner at
Cabool, as I told you in my former letter.

At length, on the 31st of October, we reached
Quettah, where we were delighted to find a few Parsee
merchants, who had come up from Bombay, and from
whom we were enabled to get a few European com-
forts, in the shape of brandy, gin, wine, tea, pickles,
&c., which we had long been without ; even milk
and butter were luxuries to us.

General Willshire now ordered the 31st Bengal
Native Infantry, which had been left here in our
march up, together with H. M. 17th, and a small de-
tail of Artillery, to proceed to Kelat, under Colonel
Baumgardt, our Brigadier. The 31st were to garri-
son it ; and the 17th were sent because Mehrab Khan,
the Kelat chief, had declared that " he would not
surrender to any but European troops, and see the
Sepoys d — d first, if they came alone." However, no
resistance was expected, as Mehrab had been offered
very liberal terms, which he had apparently accepted.
The rest of the force was to go down by the Bolan
Pass, and wait at Bukkur, or somewhere in Upper
Sinde, till joined by the 17th. However, the next

LETTER X. Ill

day a new order came out, and the Queen's, together
with a stronger detail of Artillery, were ordered to re-
inforce the detachment to Kelat,

Well ; we marched on the 5 th of November ; and
the next day, after we had reached our ground, when
we had just sat down to breakfast, great was our
surprise to see General Willshire himself ride into
camp with a few of his staff. All we could learn on
the subject was, that on that morning, which was the
day fixed for the rest of the division to begin their
march down the Bolan Pass, and just as they were
about to start, the General sent for his Adjutant
and Quarter-master-general, and, taking them and his
Aides with him, started for our camp. Things now
looked a little more warlike ; still we experienced no
annoyance during the whole march; few of us but
thought that on our approach Mehrab Khan would
give in.

We halted a day at Mostrong, which was about
half way, and here General Willshire and the poli-
tical agent communicated with the Khan, who re-
plied, that " as to the terms, he was willing to meet
General Willshire half way, with a small escort, and
there talk them over ; but that if we advanced against
him with an army, he should shut his gates, and we
should find him at the door of his citadel with his
drawn sword." There was " no mistake about that
'ere," as Sam Weller would say. However, most of
us thought it was merely bravado, as our progress was

J 12 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

not molested at all; this, however, was afterwards
accounted for by the Khan's having called in all his
fighting-men to his standard.

The last three da3^s before arriving at Kelat we
marched in order of battle, and had strong pickets at
night, the whole force sleeping on their arms, and
ready to fall in at a moment's notice.

On the 12th we were within eight miles of the fort ;
and on our arriving on our ground a few horsemen
were observed reconnoitring us, who fired on our ad-
vance, but retired leisurely on the approach of the
column. By that hour the next day " Kelat was
prize money." We strongly expected to be attacked
that night, and were all ready for a shindy; the
artillery loaded with grape, and port- fires lighted, &c.
However, it passed over very quietly ; but we had
hardly marched a mile from our encampment the
next morning, when, in an opening through the hill
to our right, we observed a large cloud of dust, which
we soon discovered to be raised by a strong body of
horsemen. They were about a mile and a half from
our flank, and kept moving on in a parallel line with
our column. However, at a point where the road
took a turn towards the hills they halted, at about 150
yards from the advance guard, and deliberately fired
into them with their matchlocks, but at too great a
distance to do much harm. One company from the
advance was sent to dislodge them ; upon which they
moved quickly down towards the main body, and

LETTER X. 113

taking up a position at about the same distance from us
as before from the advance, gave us the same salute as
they had before treated those in front to. Their
balls came whistling in upon us on all sides, and
knocked up the dust like drops of rain, but no damage
was done ; they then galloped off. It was a great
pity we had no more cavalry with us ; only fifty Ben-
gal, or Irregular Horse, and their cattle were so done
up that they were perfectly useless. The enemy
laughed at the advance companies that were now sent
out to skirmish with them. The ground consisted of
undulating hills, and rather rough, over which our
skirmishers, encumbered as they were with knap-
sacks and other absurdities, " selon les regies," found
it very difficult to move quickly, and the enemy,
riding their sure-footed horses to the top of one of
those hills, would fire down, and wheel round, and be
under cover of the other side of the hill before our
men could return the compliment effectually. If we
had had a squadron of Dragoons with us, lightly
equipped, the result would have been very different.
But, unfortunately, the only time during nearly the
whole campaign when cavalry would have been of im-
portant service to us we were without them. How-
ever, very little blood is ever shed in desultory affairs
of this sort, and they only wounded about three or
four of our men ; and at one place, a party of them
coming unexpectedly upon the reserve of the skir-.
mishers, two sections opened a fire upon them, emptied

114 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

a few saddles, and sent the rest flying. We with the
main body had a very good view of the whole affair,
and a very animating scene it was. Our road had
hitherto lain through a valley, about four miles broad ;
but when within about three miles and a half from
Kelat, it takes a sudden turn to the right, and leads, for
the next mile and a half, through a narrow and straight
pass, after penetrating which, and arriving at the
debouche, the fortress of Kelat appeared before us,
frowning defiance. The first sight of it had certainly
a very pretty effect: the sun had just burst out, and
was lighting the half-cultivated valley beneath us, in-
terspersed with fields, gardens, ruinous mosques,
houses, &c. ; while Kelat, being under the lee of some
high hills, was still in the shade ; so that, while all
around presented a smiling and inviting appearance,
as if hailing our approach with gladness, the fortress
above seemed to maintain a dark and gloomy reserve,
in high contrast with the rest of the picture ; nor was
the effect diminished when a thin cloud of smoke was
seen spouting forth and curling over its battlements,
followed, in a short interval, by the report of a large
gun, which came booming over the hills towards us.
" Hurrah ! they have fired the first shot," was the ex-
clamation of some of us, " and Kelat is prize-money !"
On looking more minutely at it, however, it had
rather an ugly appearance, and seemed, at that dis-
tance, much more formidable than Ghuzni did at
the first view. We could only see the citadel, which

LETTER X. 115

was much more commanding and difficult of access
than that of Ghuzni. The outworks, however, as
we afterwards found, were not half so strong ; these
were, however, hidden from our view by two hills,
rather formidable in appearance, covering the approach
to the fortress, on each of which a redoubt was erected,
and which we could perceive covered with men.
Beneath us in the valley the advance companies were
seen pushing on to occupy the gardens and other inclo^
sures, while nearer the fort we could observe the body of
cavalry we had been before engaged with drawn up,
as if waiting our approach, under cover of the re-
doubts on the hills. Half way down the road leading
into the valley was our Artillery, consisting of four
six-pounders, field-pieces belonging to the Shah, and
two nine-inch howitzers, with our Horse Artillery.
Here, also, was General Willshire and staff, who now
ordered one of the guns to open on the horsemen, in
order to cover the movements of the advance com-
panies, who were driving the enemy's matchlock men
before them out of the inclosures in good style. The
first shot struck wide of them, the second kicked
up a dust rather too close to be pleasant, and the third
went slap in among them, knocking over a horse or
two, when these gallant cavaliers cut their sticks, and
we saw no more of them. We soon moved into the
valley, and halted for a considerable time at the foot
of the hill. We were here within three-quarters of
a mile of the nearest redoubt, and about a mile and

O

116 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

half from Kelat itself. General Willshire now made
a reconnoissance, and the men from the different bag-
gage guards came in and joined their respective regi-
ments. After halting here about an hour, (the guns
from the nearest redoubt every now and then pitching
a shot rather close to us,) the brigade-major made
his appearance with orders for the three regiments to
form in quarter distance column of companies, to
attack the two redoubts, each leaving one company
with the colours to form the reserve. The 17th were
to attack the nearest redoubt, and the 31st Bengal
Native Infantry to turn its right, while we were to
push on and carry the other, which was the nearest to
the fort. At the same time, our artillery were brought
into position, and covered our advance.

The plot now began to thicken, and altogether the
whole affair was the most exciting thing I ever ex-
perienced, and beat Ghuzni out of the pit. We
moved steadily on, the guns from the redoubts blazing
at us as fast as they could load them ; but they were
very inferior workmen, and only two shots struck
near us, one knocking up the dust close to us, and
bounding over our heads, and the other whizzing close
over our leading company ; however, they kept their
ground till we arrived at the foot of the hills, when
our artillery having unshipped one of their guns, and
otherwise deranged their redoubts, they exploded
their powder, and retired, some leisurely, but most
in the greatest disorder. Here, again, we had occa-

LETTER X. 117

sion to regret having no cavalry, as a troop or two
would have effectually cut off or dispersed them. On
reaching the top of the hill which they had abandoned,
we found ourselves within a quarter of a mile of the
lower end of the town, with the Beloochees making
the best of their way towards the gate, which was
open to admit them. Captain Outram here rode up
to us, and cried out, " On men, and take the gate
before they can all get in." This acted like magic
on the men. All order was lost, and we rushed
madly down the hill on the flying enemy, more like
hounds with the chase in view than disciplined sol-
diers. The consequence was, we were exposed to a
most galling fire from the ramparts, by which several
of our best men were put hors de combat ; the fugi-
tives were too quick for us, and suddenly the cry was
raised by our leading men, " The gate is shut." All
was now the greatest confusion, and shelter was
sought for wherever it could be found. Unluckily a
rush was made by the greatest part of the regiment
to an old shell of a house, which could scarcely afford
cover to twenty men, much less to the numbers who
thronged into it, and who were so closely jammed that
they could not move ; and so the outside portion were
exposed to the fire from the left bastion of the town,
which completely out-flanked them, and from which
the matchlock-men kept pouring in a cool and most
destructive fire upon this dense mass with the utmost
impunity; while a wide, broken-down doorway in
G 2

118 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

the centre exposed them to a fire from another bas-
tion in their front, if ever they shewed their nose
for an instant to see how matters were going on, or
to return their fire. Poor fellows! you may guess
their situation was anything but pleasant. The con-
sequences soon began to shew themselves — eight men
and one officer (poor Gravatt) were shot dead, and
several more were severely wounded, and had the
artillery been less expeditious in knocking down the
gate, the greatest part of them would have been anni-
hilated. The other part of the regiment (myself among
the rest) were more fortunate. Seeing so many rush-
ing to one place, I made for another shelter, about
twenty paces to the rear, which consisted of a long
wall, about five feet high, and which afforded ample
cover to us all. It was within seventy yards of the
bastion that proved so fatal to the other party, and
from which they kept up a pretty good fire upon us
whenever we exposed ourselves. However, I was so
excited that nothing would do but I must see the
whole affair; this, however, was rather foolish, as
every now and then they would direct their attention
to us, and send in a volley, which would sing over us
and knock up the dust and the old wall about us in
good style. Simmons's horse (the Adjutant's) was
foolishly brought down, and had not been a second
there when it was shot slap through the hind-leg.
The ground behind us was raised a little, so that the
horse's leg was in a line with and nearly touching my

LETTER X. 119

head as I stood looking over the wall ; on reaching
the cover we found four or five poor fellows who had
been wounded in the rush down the hill, and who had
crawled in here as well as they could.

I had an excellent view of the further proceedings
from this place. Right above us on the redoubt, from
which we had driven the enemy, our artillery had
now established themselves, and were slapping away
as hard as they could at the gate. I could see every
shot as it struck : they made some very clever shots,
sending the balls all about the gate, and sometimes
knocking down a portion of the bastion over it, con-
siderably deranging the operations of the matchlock-
men who were in it ; but still the old gate would not
fall. In the mean time, the advance companies,
which had been in quiet possession of the gardens,
inclosures, &c., since the beginning of the affair, were
now ordered up to a wall about thirty yards in front
of the doorway. They had to run over about three
hundred yards of open country before they could get
to it, exposed to a fire from the bastion over the door.
I saw them make a splendid rush, but three poor fel-
lows and a native water-bearer fell, whom I saw
crawl under cover afterwards. All this time the artil-
lery were banging away, but as they made so slight
an impression on the gate, two guns of the Shah's
were moved down the hill a little to our left, and
within about one hundred and fifty yards of the gate.
They fired two shots; the first made the old gate

120 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

shake ; the second was more fortunate, and took it
about the middle, and brought it completely down.
Our men gave a general hurrah ; and Outram gal-
loping down the hill at full speed, gave the word,
^' Forward ;" and General Willshire came up to us at
his best pace, waving his hat, " Forward, Queen's," he
sung out, " or the 17th will be in before you." On
we rushed again for the gate as hard as we could ;
the enemy treated us to one more volley, by which
they did some execution, and Dickenson was wounded
in his leg, and then abandoning the lower defences of
the town, retreated to the citadel.

However, on ' entering the gate, we found matters
not so easy as we expected. The streets were
very narrow and so intricate that they formed a per-
fect labyrinth, and it was very difficult to make any
progress through them. The men, therefore, soon
got scattered about and broken into small parties ;
and some, I am afraid, thought of loot, or plunder,
more than of endeavouring to find their way to the
citadel. I forgot to mention that during the time we
were under cover, the 17th and 31st Native Infantry
had moved round the hill and taken up a posi-
tion on our right. These two regiments were or-
dered forward and into the town and at the same time
and the same gate as we were. The whole force,
therefore, entered the town nearly together. I fol-
lowed with a party of our men, and we pushed along
as well as we could through streets, by-ways, &c.

LETTER X. 121

This was rather nervous work, as we never could tell
what we had to expect before us ; there w^as no open
enemy to be seen, but whenever we came to an open-
ing exposed to the citadel, a few bullets invariably
came whizzing in about us, and knocked over a man
or two ; moreover, having the recollection of Ghuzni
fresh in our minds, we expected every moment a
rush of some desperate fellows from the narrow holes
we passed through. After groping my way through
narrow passages and all sorts of agreeable places, I
found myself in the exact spot I had started from —
viz., the gate by which we had entered. Here a man
of our Light Company came and told me that he had
discovered a way to the citadel, and begged me to
put myself at the head of a few men there col-
lected. Of course I did so, and in a short time
we found ourselves in a large courtyard, with stables,
&c., full of horses and Beloochees, right under the
windows of the citadel. These men cried out for
" aman," or " mercy ;" but the soldiers recollecting
the treachery that had been practised at Ghuzni in
a similar case were going to shoot the whole kit of
them. Not liking to see this done, I stopped their
fire, and endeavoured to make the Beloochees come
out of their holes and give themselves up. I was
standing at this time in the centre of the court, and had
heard a few shots whizzing rather close over my head,
when I suddenly received a shock, which made me
think at the moment I was smashed to bits, by a ball

122 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

from a ginjall, or native wall piece. I was knocked
senseless to the ground, in which state I suppose I
lay for a few minutes, and when I came to myself I
found myself kicking away, and coughing up globules
of clotted blood at a great pace. I thought at first
I was as good as done for ; however, on regaining a
little strength, I looked around, and seeing none of
our men in the place, and thinking it more than pro-
bable, from what I knew of their character, that the
very men whom I had been endeavouring to save
might take it into their heads to give me the " coup
de grace'' now I was left alone, I made a desperate
effort? got on my legs, and managed to hobble out,
when I soon found some of our men, who supported
me until a dooly could be brought, into which I was
placed, and was soon on my way to the doctor.

You may imagine my feelings all this time to be
anything but pleasant. I still continued coughing up
blood, which was flowing also pretty freely from my
side. The idea that you may probably have only a
few hours longer to exist, with the many recollections
that crowd into your mind at such a time, is anything
but a delightful one ; and the being so suddenly re-
duced from a state of vigorous activity to the sick,
faintish feeling that came over me, by no means added
to the agremens of my situation.

I well recollect being carried through the gate,
where General Willshire with his staff and the offi-
cers who had been left with the reserve companies

LETTER X. 123

were, and who all pressed forward to see who the
unfortunate fellow in the dooly was, when the
low exclamation of " Poor Holdsworth!" and the
mysterious and mournful shaking of heads which
passed among them, by no means tended to enliven
my spirits. I soon reached the place where the doc-
tors, with their understrappers, were busily employed
among the wounded, dying, and dead. I was imme-
diately stripped and examined, and then, for the first
time, heard that the ball had passed through and out
of my body. I also now discovered that it had
struck and gone through my arm as well. Being
very anxious, I begged Hunter, the doctor, to let me
know the worst. He shook his head, and told me
" he thought it a rather dangerous case, principally
from my having spit so much blood." He had not
time, however, to waste many words with me, as he
had plenty of others to attend. Dickenson, also, I
found here ; having been wounded, as I before told
you. He did all he could to keep my spirits up, but,
as you may suppose, I felt still very far from being
comfortable. Nor were the various objects that
met my eye of a consolatory nature: men lying,
some dead, others at their last gasp, while the ago-
nizing groans of those who were undergoing opera-
tions at the hands of the hospital assistants, added
to the horror of the scene. I may now say that I
have seen, on a small scale, every different feature
of a fight.

G 3

124 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

In the meantime, there had been sharp fighting in
the citadel. Our men, after forcing their way through
numerous dark passages, in some places so narrow
and low that they were forced to crawl singly on
their hands and knees, at length arrived there ; but
as there were a great number of approaches to this
their last place of refuge, our men got broken up into
small detached parties, and entered it at different
places. One party reached the place where Mehrab
Khan, at the head of the chiefs who had joined his
standard, was sitting with his sword drawn, &c. The
others seemed inclined to surrender themselves, and
raised the cry of " Aman !" but the Khan, springing
on his feet, cried, '' Aman, nag !" equivalent to
" Mercy be d — d," and blew his match ; but all in
vain, as he immediately received about three shots,
which completely did his business ; the one that
gave him the " coup de grace^^ and which went
through his breast, being fired by a man of our regi-
ment, named Maxwell. So fell Mehrab Khan, hav-
ing fulfilled his promise to General Willshire, and
died game, with his sword in his hand, in his own
citadel.

Other parties, however, were not so fortunate, as
each being too weak, the enemy generally offered a
determined resistance, and several, after giving them-
selves up, finding the numbers to whom they had sur-
rendered smaller than they had at fi^rst appeared,
turned upon them suddenly ; for which, however, they

LETTER X. 125

suffered in the long-run, as the soldiers, at last, mad-
dened bj this conduct, refused quarter, and fired at
once into whatever party they met, without asking
any questions.

At length the few survivors, being driven to their
last stronghold at the very top of the citadel, surren-
dered on condition of their lives being granted to them;
when one loud and general ^* hurrah !" proclaimed
around that Kelat was ours. The greatest part of
the garrison had, however, before this managed to
make their escape over the hills. Dickenson, while
he was lying wounded by my side, saw quantities of
them letting themselves down the walls of the cita-
del by. means of ropes, shawls, &c.

Dooly, the most faithful of his chiefs and followers,
remained by Mehrab Khan to the last. These were
all either taken prisoners or killed. Besides the
Khan himself, the Dadur chief, who had been the
cause of great annoyance to us in our way up, and
the Governor of the Shawl district, were among the
slain. The only two men of his council of any note
among the survivors are at present prisoners in our
camp, on their way to Bengal.

Thus ended this short, but decisive affair, which I
consider to be a much more gallant one than that of
Ghuzni, both in regard to the numbers engaged on
each side and the manner in which it was taken. We
inerely halted for an hour, and then went slap at it,

126 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

as if it was merely a continuation of our morning's
march. General Willshire was exceedingly pleased
with the result, as well he might be, and issued a very
complimentary address to the force engaged, the next
day. I hope and conclude his fortune will be made
by it.

The loss on our side at Kelat was, in proportion, a
great deal greater than at Ghuzni. We had alto-
gether about 1100 bayonets engaged, and the loss was
140, being about one in seven; of this loss, the
Queen's bear a proportion equal to that of the other
two regiments together, having returned about seventy
in the butcher's bill out of 280, which was the num-
ber we brought into the field, being about one in four.
Out of thirteen officers, we had one killed, four se-
verely, and one slightly, wounded ; twenty-three men
were killed, and forty-one wounded, of whom some
have died since, and most will feel the effect of their
wounds till their dying day, as the greatest portion are
body wounds.

With regard to prize-money, I have no doubt that
had things been even tolerably well managed, there
would have been plenty of it, but we did not stay there
long enough to search the place thoroughly. I hear
also that the other part of the force that went down
by the Bolan Pass claim to share with us, which we
do not allow ; so that, perhaps, it may get into the
lawyers' hands, and then good-bye to it altogether. I

LETTER X. 127

do not expect, under any circumstances, more than
100/. Some of the rooms of the citadel were very
handsomely fitted up, particularly one in the old fel-
low's harem, which was one entire mirror, both sides
and ceiling.

We remained at Kelat till the 21st of November,
and then marched by the Gundava Pass on this
place. During the week that we remained there, my
wounds continued doing very well, and I had very
little fever ; and on the third and fourth days after I
was hit, the doctor considered me " all right." On
the two first days of our march, however, I caught
a low fever, which left me on the third, and I have
continued to grow gradually better ever since. We
found the Gundava a much longer and more difficult
pass than that of the Bolan, and could get very little
grain or supplies either for ourselves or our cattle.
Our march was perfectly unmolested, as by that time
the new Khan had arrived at Kelat, and most of the
principal chiefs had acknowledged him. I do not
know, however, what has become of Mehrab Khan's
eldest son, a lad of fifteen years old, who was bringing
up a reinforcement to his father in our rear, while we
were marching on Kelat, but did not arrive in the
neighbourhood until after the place was taken. He,
however, threatened us with a night attack while we
were lying in front of it, so that we were on the alert,
every one sleeping on his arms during the whole time
we were there.

128 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

" We laid not by our harness bright,
Neither by day nor yet by night."

During the whole of this time the weather set in
dreadfully cold^ colder than I ever experienced it any-
where in my life ; sharp frosts, &c.

Well ; to cut the matter short, yesterday, the 7th of
December, we arrived at this place, which is the same
that we halted at for a week in our march up. Here,
at length, we are in the land of plenty, and enjoy
such luxuries as fresh eggs, butter, milk, vegetables,
&c., with a gout that those only can feel who have
been so long without them as we have. We find the
climate, however, very hot, and I am sorry to say that
we are losing many fine fellows from the effect of the
change. It is very painful to witness these poor fel-
lows going off in this miserable manner, after surviv-
ing the chances of fire and steel, and all the harass-
ing duties they have had to perform during the cam-
paign, now when they have arrived at nearly the
very end of it.

Larkhanu, Dec, 24:th, — I have delayed sending this
till our arrival here, as the communication between
this and Bombay is perfectly open, which might not
have been the case at Kotra. We have been here
about a week, and report says that we are to finish
our marching here, and drop down the riyer to Cura-
chee in boats. I hope this may prove the case, as I
am sure we have had marching enough for one cam-
paign. Another report, however, says, that there is a

LETTER X. 129

kick-up in the Punjab, and that we shall be detained
in this country in consequence ; but I do not think it
Ukely.

That part of our force which was not employed at
Kelat went down by the Bolan Pass, and have suf-
fered considerably from cholera, which luckily we
have as yet escaped. The men that we have lost
since our arrival in this low country have all died
from complaints of the lungs, from which they were
perfectly free in the cold country above the hills.
Since writing the former part of this letter, I have re-
ceived a letter from Kate, dated September 10th,
which I will answer as soon I have finished this
letter to you.

December 25th, Christmas day. — I hope to spend
this evening more comfortably than I did last year,
when I was on out-lying picket, the night before we
commenced our first march. Now, I trust, we have
finished our last. We have luckily met all our mess
supplies here, which have been waiting for us about
six months, having never managed to get further than
Bukkur. So now it is a regular case of —

" Who so merry as we in camp ?
Danger over,
Live in clover," &c.

I have just heard that the order is out for our
marching the day after to-morrow to the banks of the
river, there to remain till the boats are ready. Now
the campaign is so near its' close, I feel very glad that

130 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

I have been on it, as it is a thing that a man does
not see every day of his hfe in these times ; and I
consider it to be more lucky than otherwise that I
Jiave four holes in my body as a remembrance of it;
but I cannot say that I relish a longer sojourn in
India, unless v^e have the luck to be sent to China,
which I should like very much, (fancy sacking Fekin,
and kicking the Celestial Emperor from his throne,)
as I do not think the climate has done me any good,
but on the contrary.

I do not know whether these wounds of mine will
give me anj claim; — and, talking about that^ I would
wish you to inquire whether or not I am entitled
to any gratuity for them. I hear that officers returned
^' wounded" on the list in the Peninsular Campaign,
no matter how slight the wound might have been, re-
ceived a gratuity of one year's pay as a compensation ;
and this, I think, was called " blood-money." I do
not know how far this may be the case at present, but
I do not think that 120/. ought to be lost sight of for
want of a little inquiry.

By-the-bye, I had nearly forgotten to say that I

have received two letters from Eliza, which I will

answer as soon as possible ; but I do not think it safe

to keep this open any longer, as I may lose the mail

to Bombay ; so must conclude, with best love to all at

home.

Your very affectionate son,

T. W. E. HOLDSWORTH,

131

LETTER XI.

Camp, Larkanu, Dec. 26th, 1839.

My dear Eliza, — I finished and sent off a letter
to my father yesterday, giving an account of the
storming of Kelat, and the wounds I received in the
skrimmage, and telHng him of everything that had
happened since I wrote before, which was the day we
left Cabool. You can see his letter, which gives a
pretty full account of all our proceedings up to the
present time.

I have now to make many apologies for not having
answered your two letters, one dated May 29th, giving
an account of Kate's wedding, and the other, dated
the 29th of July, from Bristol, and likewise for having
forgotten to thank you for the money you were kind
enough to send out with my father's, last year. I
can assure you never came money more acceptable,
as no one can imagine what expenses we have un-
avoidably been obliged to incur in this campaign.

132 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

which I suppose has cost officers more than any other
campaign that ever was undertaken. I think there
are few of us who have come off under lOOZ. besides
our pay ; and yet this was merely for the common
necessaries of Kfe, — just sufficient to keep body and
soul together. I can assure you I feel very much
obliged for your present, as also for the two letters
which I received while on the march. I have often
thought of Brookhill during the many dreary marches
that we have made, and on the solitary out-lying
pickets, with no one to speak to, and deplored my
unlucky fate, in being obliged to leave home just as
you seem to be comfortably settled there. Still I
have hope that I may yet return, some day or other.

I can now give you more definite intelligence with
regard to our movements than I did in my father's
letter, since sending off which orders have come out,
and the campaign, as far as our regiment is concerned,
is decidedly brought to a close. H. M. 17th, with
Gen. Willshire, Baumgardt, and Head-quarter Staff,
marched this morning for Bukkur, where they are to
remain for four or five months, so report says, and
longer than that I suppose, if their services are re-
quired. The Queen's, and the 4th Light Dragoons,
are to return to Bombay as soon as the necessary ar-
rangements for their transportation thither &c. are
completed. We march from this to-morrow for the
banks of the river, about twelve miles, and shall pro-
bably remain there for three weeks or so, until the

LETTER XI. 133

shipping is got ready in Bombay, when we shall drop
down the Indus in boats, and embark from Curachee
for the Presidencies: would it were for England.
Most of our married officers have obtained leave to
precede the regiment, and are off in a day or two.

I hope to see Lieutenant-Colonel Fane when we
arrive at Bombay. His father, Sir H. Fane, has pub-
licly and officially resigned the commander-in- chief-
ship in favour of Sir Jasper Nicolls. Sir Henry has
been dangerously unwell at Bombay ; but report says
he is now getting better. He intends sailing as soon
as possible, I believe, and so will most likely be gone
before we arrive there. Sir J. Keane has also resigned,
and is to be succeded by Sir Thomas M^Mahon.
It is not quite certain that we shall go to Bombay,
as some say that we shall land at Cambay, and go
up to Deesa, and others that we shall return to
Belgaum. Last night we received Bombay papers,
giving an account of the taking of Kelat. They
have buttered us up pretty well, and seem to think
it a much more gallant affair than that of Ghuzni
— in this last particular they are only doing us
justice.

Dec, SOfh, Camp, Taggur Bundur, Banks of the
Indus. — We arrived here the day before yesterday,
and are likely to remain, I believe, a fortnight or so.
We muster rather small, as most of the married
officers are off to-day and yesterday. As to my
wounds, I have only one hole still open — namely, the
one through which the bullet took its final departure,

134 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

and that, I think, will be closed in a day or two.
I am sorry to say that since arriving here I have
caught a " cruel cold," from which I am suffering se-
verely at present.

By-the-bye, there are a few incidents connected
with the taking of Kelat which I forgot to mention
in my letter to my father. Mehrab Khan, the chief
of Kelat, managed to send away all his harem and
family on the morning of the fight, directly we were
seen approaching, but his other chiefs were not so
fortunate, and the greater part of them deliberately
cut the throats of all the females belonging to their
establishments, including wives, mothers, and daugh-
ters, as soon as we established ourselves within the
town, rather than suffer them to fall into the hands
of us infidels. I forgot, I think, also, to mention that
I managed to procure rather a handsome Koran,
which was found in the citadel, and also an excellent
Damascus blade, both of which I intend giving to my
father, and a few articles of native costume, which
would go far to make up a neat fancy dress, but it is
not quite complete. A great number of handsome
articles were stolen by the camp followers and other
rascals, worse luck for us poor wounded officers, who
could not help ourselves. We were rather surprised
at finding some excellent European articles in the
shape of double-barrelled guns, pistols, beautiful
French musical boxes, prints, looking-glasses, and
pier-glasses, &c., in the rooms of the citadel. Where
Mehrab Khan could have picked them up I cannot

LETTER XI. 135

think, unless they were the result of some successful
foray on some unfortunate caravan.

The day after the fight. Captain Outram, of whom
I have so often spoken in my letters to my father, vo-
lunteered to take the dispatches to Bombay, and
started for that purpose straight across country to
Someanee Bay, on the sea-coast, a distance of 350
miles, and across the barren mountains that compose
the greatest part of Beloochistan. This route had up
to that time never been traversed by any European,
except Pottinger, who passed through all these coun-
tries twenty' years ago, disguised as a native. It was
attempted last year by Captain Harris, of the Bombay
Engineers, author of the " African Excursions," a
very enterprising officer, and who landed at Some-
anee Bay for that purpose ; but after getting about
twenty miles into the interior, reported the route as
impracticable. When this is taken into consideration,
with the great chance there was of Captain Outram's
falling into the hands of the many straggling fugitives
from Kelat, and the well-known character of these
gentlemen, now smarting under the painful feeling of
being driven from their homes, &c., it must be con-
fessed that it required no little pluck to undertake it.
The plan proved, however, perfectly successful. He
travelled in the disguise of an Afghan Peer, or holy
man, under the guidance of two Afghan Seyds, a race
of men much looked up to and respected in all Ma-
homedan countries, on account of their obtaining.

136 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

[whether true or not, I know not] a pure descent from
the Prophet. Outram and his party fell in with
several bands of fugitives, and actually came up and
were obliged to travel a day or two with the harem
and escort of Mehrab Khan's brother. As there was
a chance of Outram's being discovered by this party,
the Seyd introduced him in the character of a Peer,
which holy disguise he had to support during the
whole journey ; and after some extraordinary escapes
he arrived at Someanee Bay in seven or eight days.

Our sick and wounded have been left behind at
Kelat, under the charge of an officer of the 17 th,
since which things have gone on very smoothly there.
The new Khan has been very accommodating, and
has given fetes, &c., to the officers left behind, in
honour of our gallantry. He has also written to
General Willshire to say that he intends giving us all
a medal each, whether we are allowed to wear it or
not, as he does not see why, if the Shah did it for
Ghuzni, he might not do it also for Kelat. Lord
Auckland has published an order that all regiments
belonging to the Company that went beyond the
Bolan Pass shall wear Afghanistan on their colours
and appointments, and all engaged at Ghuzni that
name also ; and has written to the Queen for permis-
sion for Queen's regiments employed in like manner
to bear the same. I suppose we shall get Kelat in
addition.

There is one other point which, in my hurry to get

LETTER XI. 137

my letter off in time for the January mail, I totally
forgot to mention — viz., about drawing some money
on my father. I have before mentioned the great
expense we have been put to in this campaign ; in
addition to this, when we were ordered from Quettah
to take Kelat, we were also under orders to return to
Quettah after having taken the place. A sergeant
was therefore left behind at Quettah to take charge
of whatever effects any person might leave, and
officers were strongly advised to leave the greater
part of their kit at this place. I, as well as most of
my brother officers, was foolish enough to follow this
advice, and brought only a bundle of linen; conse-
quently now I am almost minus everything ; dress-
coat, appointments, are all left behind, as General
Willshire, after the taking of Kelat, instead of return-
ing to Quettah, proceeded into Cutch Gundava by the
Gundava Pass. Nothing has been since heard of what
we have left behind, except that the sergeant could
not get camels or carriage sufficient to bring them down.
Moreover, it is unsafe to go through the Bolan Pass
without a tolerably strong escort ; so, taking all things
into consideration, I do not think there is much
chance of our ever seeing anything of them again.
The consequences will be, that, on our arrival at Bom-
bay, I shall be obliged to get an entire new fit out,
and as the campaign has drained me dry, I shall be
obliged to draw upon my father for it; however, I
will repay him by the end of the year, as by that time

138 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

the Company will have given us half a year's full
batta, which they intend doing as a sort of indemni-
fication for the losses we have sustained on the cam-
paign; my batta will be about 72Z.

I do not think I have any more to say, and as the
January overland sails on the 25th, I hope this letter
will reach Bombay in time to go by it, as well as my
father's. By-the-bye, how is old Nelly ? If she has
any good pups, I wish you would manage to keep
one for me, as I expect the old girl will be either
dead or very old by the time I return, I am longing
to get out of the " Sick-list," as the thickets here
near the river are full of partridges and hares, and
the climate, at this time of the year, is very cool and
pleasant. My rheumatism is much better since I was
wounded ; but I still have it in my left arm. Well, no
more ; but wishing you, and all, a happy new year.

Believe me ever your very affectionate brother,

T. W. E. HOLDSWORTH.

139

LETTER XII.

Camp, Curachee, Feb. 14th, 1840.

My dear Father, — You will see, by my date,
that our share of the campaign is ended ; in fact, we
are only waiting here for shipping, which is on its
way from Bombay, to take us from this place to Man-
davie, in Cutch, where we land, and then march im-
mediately to Deesa, in Guzerat ; so that, after all our
toilsome marches, &c., we have yet another, still more
toilsome, before us of 240 miles. The climate of
Cutch and Guzerat during the period of year that we
shall be occupied in marching is so hot that no
changes of station are ever made even by native
corps, and Europeans are never allowed to march in
Guzerat except during the cold months. It is sharp
work on our poor men ; many of whom appear very
unfit for it ; but they are now so accustomed to hard
work, that they will get well through it I have little
doubt.

H

140 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

We left Tuggur Bandur, from which place I wrote
to Eliza and Kate, on the 13th of January, and
drifted quietly down the river in boats, pulling up
and coming to an anchor every evening at sunset. We
reached Tatta Bundur, about five miles from the
town, on the 21st, and after staying there a few days,
started again for this place, which we reached in five
marches, ori the 31st. We were immediately most
hospitably entertained by the officers of H. M. 40th,
which is an excellent regiment. Here we have been
ever since, living on the fat of the land, and enjoy-
ing ourselves very much, after all our toils. This
is now a rather considerable station: one Queen's
and one Company's regiment, and detail of foot ar-
tillery, and plenty of European supplies brought by
the Bombay merchants. It is a very decent climate?
and would make a very good station, I wish they
would leave us here in place of sending us to Deesa,
at this time of the year. Sir John Keane, General
Willshire, and the Bombay staff are expected here in
a day or two. Sir John is bringing down with him
Hyder Khan, Dost Mahomed's son, who commanded
at Ghuzni when it was taken. He is to be brought
to Bombay, and as he is of a very quiet, amiable
disposition, will, so report says, be eventually allowed
to join his father. Poor Dost, they say, is in a very
bad way, deserted by nearly all his followers; but
there still seems to be mischief brewing in the north-
west. All accounts say that Bokhara is very much

LETTER XII. 141

inclined to the Russian interest, and Shah Kamran's
vizier at Herat has been carrying on a correspondence
with the Persians, the object of which is said to be
the dehvery of Herat into their hands. The Pun-
jab is also in a very unsettled state; so there are
plenty of materials for getting up another row in
these countries before long. War is most positively
said to be decided on with China, and seven regi-
ments, to be followed by a reserve of equal number,
together with a considerable naval force, are to be
sent there as soon as possible. Lord Auckland,
we are told, has had carte blanche from the Home
government to act as he thinks fit with regard to
China, and that he has determined upon a hostile
movement as soon as this campaign is regularly
finished, which it may be said to be ; so there will be
glorious fun there. It is not yet known here what
regiments will go. I am afiraid there is little chance
for the Queen's.

The 4th Light Dragoons have arrived here, having
come down by land ; they are to return to their old
quarters at Kickee, near Poonah. The 17th may also
be expected in a few days ; they are to occupy our
old quarters at Belgaum. The 18th (Royal Irish)
have come on from Ceylon, and are to go to Poonah ;
and the 6th go home (to England) as soon as possible.
This is understood to be the destination of each
regiment, but this affair with China may cause an
alteration.

h2

142 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

I am very sorry to mention the unfortunate death
of poor little Halkett, one of my best friends, and
the son of General Halkett, of Hanover, vfho was so
very civil to me while I was there, and nephew of Sir
Cohn Halkett.

Since we have been here, I have received your let-
ter, dated November 2nd, by which it appears that
you had just then heard of the taking of Ghuzni.
You mentioned, also, in it that you had received my
letter from Candahar, which I am very glad to hear,
as I was very much afraid, from the state of the coun-
try, that it would never reach its destination. As you
mention nothing about it, I suppose you had not re-
ceived the letter I wrote from Ghuzni almost imme-
diately after the capture. I know many letters were
lost about that time, and mine, I am afraid, among
the number. There is a report here (but I think,
too good to be true) that all officers with the ad-
vance, or storming, party at Ghuzni, consisting of the
light companies of the European regiments, were to
get brevet rank. In that case, as the company to
which I belong — ^viz., the Light — was one of the
number, and, in fact, headed the assault, Capt. Holds-
worth would be my future rank. Tell Eliza that I got
her letter, which was enclosed in yours, and was very
much surprised at its contents.

i do not know what to say about Deesa as a
station, reports are so various on the subject. The
heat, I believe, is awful in the hot weather, the ther-

LETTER XII. 143

mometer rising to 120 in the houses ; and the worst
part of the business is, that this heat, which is occa-
sioned by the hot winds, lasts all night through ; so
that the night is nearly as hot as the day. At other
times of the year, I believe, the climate is very plea-
sant. The 40th give a very good account of it. There
is a great quantity of game there, and some of the best
hog-hunting in India. Mount Aboo, called the Par-
nassus of India, is within fifty miles of it, and is a
great place of resort during the hot weather.

Should this expedition to China take place, which
seems decided upon at present, what an immense
power the English will eventually have in the East.
In a few years, I have no doubt it may extend from
Herat to the most eastern parts of China, including
all the islands in the adjacent seas. Like the Romans,
England seems to be extending her dominion every-
where— " super et Garamantes et Indos, proferet im-
perium," and yet what a row she kicks up about
Russia. The French papers seem to be rather jealous
about Ghuzni. How the English papers butter it up !
and yet it was not half so brilliant an affair as Kelat,
nor so hardly contested ; but very little is said about
the latter.

Enclosed, I send you a view of the north front of
Kelat, shewing the gate by which we entered. It
gives you a pretty good idea of the place, and was
drawn by Lieutenant Creed, of the Engineers.

I went yesterday to see a tank, about seven miles

144 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

from this place, in which are a great quantity of alli-
gators, half tame. The tank in which they are be-
longs to a Mahomedan temple, which is considered a
very holy one, and much resorted to, and these,
animals are kept there by the priests of the establish-
ment, in order to induce a greater number of visitors.
A calf was killed and thrown in among the scaly gen-
tlemen, who very soon demolished it. I never saw
anything so loathesome and repulsive as these mon-
sters.

This letter goes by the ^^ Hannah" packet, which
sails this evening for Bombay, and will, I hope, reach
that place in time to go by the " overland packet."
I suppose you know that this is classic ground, and
the place from which Nearchus, Alexander's admiral,
started on his return to the Euphrates. I have no
time for more. So, with love to all at home.

Believe me your aifectionate son,

T. W. E. HOLDSWORTH.

145

LETTER XIIL

Deesa, April 21st, 1840.

My dear Father, — I received your letter, dated
January 18 th, about the beginning of this month,
while on our march from Mandavie to this place. I
see by the papers that the news of the taking of
Kelat had reached England, as I find my name men-
tioned in the " Western Luminary," which came out in
this overland. I wrote you last from Curachee, about
the beginning or middle of February. We stayed
there till the 20th. A few days before we left, Lord
Keane and suite arrived, bringing with him Hyder
Khan, the captured chief of Ghuzni. While there,
Lord Keane presented new colours to the 40th regi-
ment, which we had an opportunity of witnessing.
He and all his party have since gone home.

On the 20th, I, with my company under my com-
mand, embarked for Mandavie, in Cutch, where we
arrived in two days, in Patamars, and waited till the

146 CAMPAIGN OF THE INDUS.

whole regiment came down, which they did by com-
panies, so that it was the 10th of March before we
were able to start for this place.

We arrived here on the 4th of this month, pushing
on as fast as we could, as the commanding officer was
anxious to get the men under cover, on account of
the great heat. There was excellent shooting the
whole way up; and if it had been the cold season, I
should have enjoyed the march amazingly ; but it
was too hot to venture out. On arrival here we
found about three hundred recruits, who had arrived
since we went on service, and about fifty of the men
we left behind us ; also seven new officers. As I have
a company under my command I have scarcely had a
moment to myself since I have been here ; what with
fitting and getting the recruits in order, and new
clothing the old hands, you have no conception what
tedious work it is getting into quarters.

I have bought a very comfortable little bungalo
for four hundred rupees. We were promised our full
batta on our arrival here ; but, although the Ben-
galees, it is said, received theirs some time ago,
yet there is a screw loose, I fear, somewhere in the
Bombay, and that it may be some time before we get
ours, and that it will not be as much as the Ben-
galees : so much for being in an inferior Presidency.
This is a great disappointment, after our losses on the
campaign.

With regard to this place, I have not been long

LETTER XIII.* 147

enough in it to form an opinion. Its appearance is
decidedly against it, the soil being nothing but a
barren sandy desert, with the low hills of the Ara-
vulles to the eastward, running north to the mountain
Aboo, the Parnassus of Hindostan. The last week
has been oppressive, and hot in the extreme; and
this is but the commencement of the hot w^eather,
which I am told will last about six weeks longer, when
a very slight monsoon comes on, and lasts at intervals
till the end of October, when the cold season com-
mences, which is said to be very pleasant. There is a
lot of game here of every description, including lions ;
and it is one of the best hog-hunting stations in
India.

Our men, to the surprise of everybody, were very
healthy in the march up ; and since they have been
here, and not having their knapsacks to carry,
knocked off their work in grand style. The men we
have brought back with us are well-seasoned, hardy
fellows, and I would back them to march against any
soldiers in the world,

I suppose you have long ere this received Stisted's
letter and mine about Kelat. Colonel Arnold* died
at Cabool whilst we were there, and was buried with
a magnificent military funeral in the Armenian burial-

* Colonel Arnold was in the 10th Hussars at Waterloo, and shot
through the body in the charge in which Major Howard, of that re-
giment, was killed.

H 3

148 CAMPAIGN OP THE INDUS.

ground. I am sorry to say that, as I predicted, the
spear which I took at the storming of Ghuzni has
been broken to pieces through the carelessness of my
servants. I have, however, the Koran and sword
from Kelat; and I think I shall be able to get a
matchlock taken at that place, — a very good specimen
of the sort of thing I was wounded by ; perhaps it
may be the identical one. The sword I left in
Cutch, in my way up from Mandavie, to be put to
rights, as the workmen of that country are the best in
India. I will try if I can get another weapon, as a
remembrance of Ghuzni. I brought down from
Cabool as far as Quettah a very good specimen of
the Kyber knife, a very cut-throat sort of instrument,
with which every Afghan is armed. I sent it down
with my other things through the Bolan Pass, when
we turned off to Kelat, and I am sorry to say it was
stolen.

You write about old *****: did I never men-
tion him to you ? He is here ; but was not with us
on the campaign, being too unwell when we started.
Though not an old man, he is a very old soldier for
an Indian, and is nearly worn out : he is anxious to
get his discharge at the end of the year, when he will
have served his twenty-one years, and be entitled to
a decent pension. He is a very straight-forward,
blunt, honest old fellow, and when he first joined was
a very powerful man, and the best wrestler in the re-
giment, thereby proving his South Devon blood. He

LETTER XIII. 149

* 's servant when I joined, and I was
delighted at hearing the South Devon dialect again,
which he speaks with so much truth and native
elegance that you would imagine he had but just left
his native village. There were a great many Devon-
shire men in the regiment ; we lost one, a very fine
young man in the Grenadiers, in coming down from
Kelat to Cutch Gundava, by the same chest com-
plaint that carried off so many : he was a native of
Tiverton.

Well ; it is twelve o'clock, and I am afraid I shall
be too late for the post ; so good bye.

Your affectionate son,

T. W. E. HOLDSWORTH.

APPENDIX,

APPENDIX.

FALL OF GHUZNI, & ENTRANCE OF THE BRITISH
ARMY INTO CABOOL.

{From the Bombay Government Gazette Extraordinary of
August 29thy 1839.)

SECRET DEPARTMENT.

Bombay Castle, Aug. 29th, 1839.
The Honourable the Governor in Council has the highest satisfac-
tion in republishing the following notification issued by the Right
Honourable the Governor-General, announcing the capture by storm
of the town and fortress of Ghuzni, as also the general order issued
on the occasion by his Excellency Lieu tenant-General Sir John
Keane, K.C.B. and G.C.H., Commander-in-Chief of the Army of
the Indus. By order of the Honourable the Governor in Council,

L. R. Reid, Acting Chief Secretary,

NOTIFICATION. SECRET DEPARTMENT.

Simla, August 18th, 1839.
The Right Hon. the Governor-General of India has great gratifi-
cation in publishing, for general information, a copy of a report this

154 APPENDIX.

day received from his Excellency Lieutenant-General Sir John

Keane, K.C.B., Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Indus,

announcing the capture, by storm, on the 23d ult., of the important

fortress of Ghuzni.

A salute of twenty-one guns will be fired on the receipt of this

intelligence at all the principal stations of the army in the three

Presidencies. By order of the Right Hon. the Governor-General

of India,

(Signed) T. H. Maddock,

Officiating Secretary to the Government of
India, with the Governor-General.

TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD AUCKLAND, G.C.B., ETC.

My Lord, — I have the satisfaction to acquaint your Lordship that
the army under my command have succeeded in performing one of
the most brilliant acts it has ever been my lot to witness during my
service of forty-five years in the four quarters of the globe, in the
capture, by storm, of the strong and important fortress and citadel
of Ghuzni yesterday.

It is not only that the Afghan nation, and, I understand, Asia
generally have looked upon it as impregnable ; but it is in reality
a place of great strength, both by nature and art, far more so than I
had reason to suppose from any description that I had received of
it, although some are from officers in our own service who had seen
it in their travels.

I was surprised to find a high rampart in good repair, built on a
scarped mound about thirty -five feet high, flanked by numerous
towers, and surrounded by a fausse brayze and a wet ditch, whilst
the height of the citadel covered the interior from the commanding
fire of the hills from the north, rendering it nugatory. In addition
to this, screen walls had been built before the gates, the ditch was
filled with water, and unfordable, and an outwork built on the right
bank of the river so as to command the bed of it.

APPENDIX. 155

It is therefore the more honourable to the troops, and must ap-
pear to the enemy out of all calculation extraordinary, that a fortress
and citadel to the strength of which, for the last thirty years, they
had been adding something each year, and which had a garrison of
3500 Afghan soldiers, commanded by Prince Mahomed Hyder, the
son of Dost Mahomed Khan, the ruler of the country, with a com-
manding number of guns, and abundance of ammunition, and other
stores, provisions, &c., for a regular siege, should have been taken
by British science and British valour in less than two hours from
the time the attack was made, and the whole, including the go-
vernor and garrison, should fall into our hands.

My dispatch of the 20th instant, from Nanee, will have made
known to your Lordship that the camps of his Majesty Shah Shooja-
ool-Moolk, and of Major-General Willshire, with the Bombay
troops, had there joined me in accordance with my desire, and the
following morning we made our march of twelve miles to Ghuzni,
the line of march being over a fine plain. The troops were disposed
in a manner that would have enabled me at any moment, had we
been attacked, as was probable, from the large bodies of troops
moving on each side of us, to have placed them in position to re-
ceive the enemy. They did not, however, appear; but on our com-
ing within range of the guns of the citadel and fortress of Ghuzni,
a sharp cannonade was opened on our leading column, together with
a heavy fire of musketry from behind garden walls, and temporary
field-works thrown up, as well as the strong outwork I have already
alluded to, which commanded the bed of the river from all but the
outwork. The enemy were driven in under the walls of the fort in
a spirited manner by parties thrown forward by Major-General Sir
Willoughby Cotton, of the 16th and 48th Bengal Native Infantry,
and her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry, under Brigadier Sale. I or-
dered forward three troops of horse artillery, the camel battery, and
one foot battery, to open upon the citadel and fortress, by throwing
shrapnel shells, which was done in a masterly style under the di-
rection of Brigadier Stephenson. My object in this was to make

156 APPENDIX.

the enemy shew their strength in guns, and in other respects, which
completely succeeded, and our shells must have done great execu-
tion, and occasioned great consternation. Being perfectly satisfied
on the point of their strength in the course of half an hour, I ordered
the fire to cease, and placed the troops in bivouac. A close recon-
noissance of the place all around was then undertaken by Captain
Thomson, the chief engineer, and Captain Peat, of the Bombay
Engineers, accompanied by Major Garden, the Deputy Quarter-
master-General of the Bombay army, supported by a strong party of
her Majesty's 16th Lancers, and one from her Majesty's 18th Light
Infantry. On this party a steady fire was kept up, and some
casualties occurred. Captain Thomson's report was very clear; he
found the fortifications equally strong all round ; and, as ray own
opinion coincided with his, I did not hesitate a moment as to the
manner in which our approach and attack upon the place should be
made. Notwithstanding the march the troops had performed in
the morning, and their having been a considerable time engaged
with the enemy, I ordered the whole to move across the river
(which runs close under the fort wall) in columns, to the right and
left of the town, and they were placed in opposition on the north
side on more commanding ground, and securing the Cabool road.
I had information that a night attack upon the camp was intended
from without. Mahomed Ubzul Khan, the eldest son of Dost
Mahomed Khan, had been sent by his father with a strong body of
troops from Cabool to the brother's assistance at Ghuzni, and was
encamped outside the walls, but abandoned his position on our ap-
proach, keeping, however, at the distance of a few miles from us.
The two rebel chiefs of the Ghiljee tribe, men of great influence —
viz., Abdool Rhuman and Gool Mahomed Khan, had joined him
with 1500 horse, and also a body of about 3000 Ghazees from
Zeimat, under a mixture of chiefs and mollahs, carrying banners,
and who had been assembled on the cry of a religious war. In
short, we were in all directions surrounded by enemies. These last
actually came down the hills on the 22nd, and attacked the part of

APPENDIX. 157

the camp occupied by his Majesty Shah Shooja and his own troops,
but were driven back with considerable loss, and banners taken.

At daylight on the 22nd I reconnoitered Ghuzni, in company
with the chief engineer and the brigadier commanding the artillery,
with the adjutant and quartermaster-general of the Bengal army, for
the purpose of making all arrangements for carrying the place by
storm, and these were completed in the course of the day. Instead
of the tedious process of breaching, (for which we were ill prepared,)
Captain Thomson undertook, with the assistance of Captain Peat,
of the Bombay Engineers, Lieutenants Durand and Macleod, of
the Bengal Engineers, and other officers under him, (Captain
Thomson,) to blow in theCabool gate, the weakest point, with gun-
powder ; and so much faith did I place on the success of this
operation that my plans for the assault were immediately laid down
and the orders given.

The different troops of horse artillery, the camel and foot bat-
teries, moved off their ground at twelve o'clock that night, without
the slightest noise, as had been directed, and in the most correct
manner took up the position assigned them, about 250 yards from
the walls. In like manner, and with the same silence, the infantry
soon after moved from their ground, and all were at their post at
the proper time. A few minutes before three o'clock in the morn-
ing the explosion took place, and proved completely successful.
Captain Peat, of the Bombay Engineers, was thrown down and
stunned by it, but shortly after recovered his senses and feeling.
On hearing the advance sounded by the bugle, (being the signal for
the gate having been blown in,) the artillery, under the able direc-
tions of Brigadier Stevenson, consisting of Captain Grant's troop of
Bengal Horse Artillery, the camel battery, under Captain Abbott,
both superintended by Major Pew, Captains Martin and Cotgmve's
troops of Bombay Horse Artillery, and Captain Lloyd's battery of
Bombay Foot Artillery, all opened a terrific fire upon the citadel
and ramparts of the fort, and, in a certain degree, paralysed the
enemy.

158 APPENDIX.

Underthe guidance of Captain Thomson, of the Bengal Engineers,
the chief of the department, Colonel Dennie, of her Majesty's 13th
Light Infantry, commanding the advance, consisting of the light
companies of her Majesty's 2nd and 17th regiments of Foot, and
of the Bengal European regiment, with one company of her Ma-
jesty's 13th Light Infantry, proceeded to the gate, and with great
difficulty, from the rubbish thrown down, and the determined oppo-
sition offered by the enemy, effected an entrance, and established
themselves within the gateway, closely followed by the main column,
led in a spirit of great gallantry by Brigadier Sale, to whom I had
entrusted the important post of commanding the storming party,
consisting (with the advance above-mentioned) of her Majesty's
2nd Foot, under Major Carruthers; the Bengal European regiment,
under Lieutenant-Colonel Orchard, followed by her Majesty's 13th
Light Infantry, under Major Tronson ; and her Majesty's 17th re-
giment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Croker. The struggle within the
fort was desperate for a considerable time. In addition to the heavy
fire kept up, our troops were assailed by the enemy sword in hand,
and with daggers, pistols, &c. ; but British courage, perseverance,
and fortitude, overcame all opposition, and the fire of the enemy in
the lower area of the fort being nearly silenced. Brigadier Sale
turned towards the citadel, from which could now be seen men
abandoning the guns, running in all directions, throwing themselves
down from immense heights, endeavouring to make their escape ;
and on reaching the gate with her Majesty's 17th, under Lieutenant-
Colonel Croker, followed by the 13th, forced it open at five o'clock
in the morning. The colours of her Majesty's 13th and 17th were
planted on the citadel of Ghuzni amidst the cheers of all ranks.
Instant protection was granted to the women found in the citadel,
(among whom were those of Mahomed Hyder, the governor,) and
sentries placed over the magazine for its security. Brigadier Sale
reports having received much assistance from Captain Kershaw, of
her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry, throughout the whole of the ser-
vice of the storming.

APPENDIX. 159

Major-General Sir Willoughby Cotton executed in a manner
much to my satisfaction the orders he had received. The Major-
General followed closely the assaulting party into the fort with the
reserve — namely, Brigadier Roberts, with the only available regi-
ment of his brigade ; the 35th Native Infantry, under Lieutenant-
Colonel Monteath ; part of Brigadier Sale's brigade, the 16th Na-
tive Infantry, under Major Maclaren ; and 48th Native Infantry,
under Lieutenant-Colonel Wheeler; and they immediately occu-
pied the ramparts, putting down opposition whenever they met any,
and making prisoners, until the place was completely in our posses-
sion. A desultory fire was kept up in the town long after the citadel
was in our hands, from those who had taken shelter in houses, and in
desperation kept firing on all that approached them. In this way
several of our men were wounded, and some killed, but the ag-
gressors paid dearly for their bad conduct in not surrendering when
the place was completely ours. I must not omit to mention that
three companies of the 35th Native Infantry, under Captain Hay,
ordered to the south side of the fort to begin with a false attack, to
attract attention on that side, performed that service at the proper
time, and greatly to my satisfaction.

As we were threatened with an attack for the relief of the garrison,
I ordered the IQth Bombay Native Infantry, under the command
of Lieutenant-Colonel Stalker, to guard the Cabool road, and to be
in support of the cavalry division. This might have proved an im-
portant position to occupy, but as it was, no enemy appeared.

The cavalry division, under Major-General Thackwell, in addi-
tion to watching the approach of an enemy, had directions to sur-
round Ghuzni, and to sweep the plain, preventing the escape of
runaways from the garrison. Brigadier Arnold's brigade — the Bri-
gadier himself, I deeply regret to say, was labouring under very
severe illness, having shortly before burst a blood-vessel internally,
which rendered it wholly impossible for him to mount a horse that
day — consisting of her Majesty's 16th Lancers, under Lieutenant-
Colonel Persse, temporarily commanding the brigade, and Major

160 APPENDIX.

Mac Dowell, the junior major of the regiment, (the senior major of
the 16th Lancers, Major Cureton, an officer of great merit, being
actively engaged in the execution of his duties as Assistant Adju-
tant-General to the cavalry division,) the 2nd Cavalry, under Major
Salter, and the 3rd, under Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, were or-
dered to watch the south and west sides. Brigadier Scott's brigade
were placed on the Cabool road, consisting of her Majesty's 4th
Light Dragoons, under Major Daly, and of the 1st Bombay Ca-
valry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Sandwith, to watch the north and
east sides : this duty was performed in a manner greatly to my sa-
tisfaction.

After the storming, and that quiet was in some degree restored
within, I conducted his Majesty Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk, and the
British Envoy and Minister, Mr. Macnaghten, round the citadel
and a great part of the fortress. The king was perfectly astonished
at our having made ourselves masters of a place conceived to be im-
pregnable, when defended, in the short space of two hours, and in
less than forty-eight hours after we came before it. His Majesty
was, of course, greatly delighted at the result. When I afterwards,
in the course of the day, took Mahomed Hyder Khan, the governor,
first to the British Minister, and then to the King, to make his sub-
mission, I informed his Majesty that I had made a promise that his
life should not be touched, and the King, in very handsome terms,
assented, and informed Mahomed Hyder, in my presence, that
although he and his family had been rebels, yet he was willing to
forget and forgive all.

Prince Mahomed Hyder, the Governor of Ghuzni, is a prisoner
of war in my camp, and under the surveillance of Sir Alexander
Burnes, an arrangement very agreeable to the former.

From Major-General Sir W. Cotton, commanding the 1st infantry
division, (of the Bengal army,) I have invariably received the
strongest support ; and on this occasion his exertions were manifest
in support of the honour of the profession and of our country.

I have likewise, at all times, received able assistance from Major-

APPENDIX. 161

General Willshire, commanding the 2nd infantry division, (of the
Bombay army,) which it was found expedient on that day to break
up, some for the storming party, and some for other duties. The
Major-General, as directed, was in attendance upon myself.

To Brigadier Sale I feel deeply indebted for the gallant and
soldierlike manner in which he conducted the responsible and
arduous duty entrusted to him in command of the storming party,
and for the arrangements he made in the citadel immediately after
taking possession of it. The sabre wound which he received in the
face did not prevent his continuing to direct his column until every-
thing was secure ; and I am happy in the opportunity of bringing
to your Lordship's notice the excellent conduct of Brigadier Sale on
this occasion.

Brigadier Stevenson, in command of the Artillery, was all I could
wish ; and he reports that Brigade-Majors Backhouse and Coghlan
ably assisted him. His arrangements were good ; and the execu-
tion done by the arm he commands, was such as cannot be forgotten
by those of the enemy who have witnessed and survived it.

To Brigadier Roberts, to Colonel Dennie, who commanded the
advance, and to the different officers commanding regiments already
mentioned, as well as to the other officers, and gallant soldiers under
them, who so nobly maintained the honour and reputation of our
country, my best acknowledgments are due.

To Captain Thomson, of the Bengal Engineers, the chief of the
department with me, much of the credit of the success of this bril-
liant coup-de-main is due. A place of the same strength, and by
such simple means as this highly-talented and scientific officer re-
commended to be tried, has, perhaps, never before been taken ; and
I feel I cannot do sufficient justice to Captain Thomson's merits for
his conduct throughout. In the execution he was ably supported
by the officers already mentioned ; and so eager were the other
officers of the Engineers of both Presidencies for the honour of car-
rying the powder bags, that the point could only be decided by
seniority, which shews the fine feeling by which they were ani-
mated.

162 APPENDIX.

I must now inform your Lordship, that since I joined the Bengal
column in the Valley of Shawl, I have continued my march with it
in the advance ; and it has been my good fortune to have had the
assistance of two most efficient staff-officers in Major Craigie, De-
puty Adjutant-General, and Major Garden, Deputy Quartermaster-
General. It is but justice to those officers that I should state to
your Lordship the high satisfaction I have derived from the manner
in which all their duties have been performed up to this day, and
that I look upon them as promising officers to fill the higher ranks.
To the other officers of both departments I am also much in-
debted for the correct performance of all duties appertaining to their
situations.

To Major Keith, the Deputy Adjutant-General, and Major
Campbell, the Deputy Quartermaster-General of the Bombay
army, and to all the other officers of both departments under them,
my acknowledgments are also due, for the manner in which their
duties have been performed during this campaign.

Captain Alexander, commanding the 4th Bengal Local Horse,
and Major Cunningham, commanding the Poona Auxiliary Horse,
with the men under their orders, have been of essential service to the
army in this campaign.

The arrangements made by Superintending-Surgeons Kennedy
and Atkinson previous to the storming, for affording assistance and
comfort to the wounded, met with my approval.

Major Parsons, the Deputy Commissary-General, in charge of
the department in the field, has been unremitting in his attention to
keep the troops supplied, although much difficulty is experienced,
and he is occasionally thwarted by the nature of the country and its
inhabitants.

I have throughout this service received the utmost assistance I
could derive from Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonald, my officiating
military secretary, and Deputy Adjutant-General of her Majesty's
Forces, Bombay; from Captain Powell, my Persian interpreter,
and the other officers of my personal staff. The nature of the
country in which we are serving, prevents the possibility of my

APPENDIX. ] 63

sending a single staff-officer to deliver this to your Lordship, other-
wise I should have asked my aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Keane, to
proceed to Simla, to deliver this despatch into your hands, and to
have afforded any further information that your Lordship could
have desired.

The brilliant triumph we have obtained, the cool courage dis-
played, and the gallant bearing of the troops I have the honour to
command, will have taught such a lesson to our enemies in the Af-
ghan nation as will make them hereafter respect the name of a
British soldier.

Our loss is wonderfully small considering the occasion ; the
casualties in killed and wounded amount to about 200.

The loss of the enemy is immense ; we have already buried of
their dead nearly 500, together with an immense number of horses.

I enclose a list of the killed, wounded, and missing. I am happy
to say that, although the wounds of some of the officers are severe,
they are all doing well.

It is my intention, after selecting a garrison for this place, and
establishing a general hospital, to continue my march to Cabool
forthwith. — I have, &c.,

(Signed) John Keane, Lieut.-General.

No. 1.

List of killed, wounded, and missing, in the army under the com-
mand of Lieutenant- General Sir John Keane, before Ghuzni,
on the 2lst of July, 1839 : —

2nd Troop Bengal Horse Artillery — 3 horses wounded.

3rd Troop Bombay — 2 rank and file, 2 horses, wounded.

4th Troop Bombay — 1 horse killed.

2nd Regiment Bengal Cavalry — 1 horse killed, 1 rank and file
wounded.

4th Bengal Local Horse — 1 rank and file and 1 horse missing.

Her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry — 1 rank and file killed.
I

164 APPENDIX.

16lh Bengal Native Infantry — 1 captain wounded.
48th Ditto ditto — 1 lieutenant, and 2 rank and file wounded
Total killed — 1 rank and file, and two horses.
Total wounded — 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, 5 rank and file, and
6 horses.

Total missing — 1 rank and file, and 1 horse.

Names of' Officers wounded.

Captain Graves, 16th Bengal Native Infantry, severely.
Lieutenant Vanhomrigh, 48th Bengal Native Infantry, slightly.

(Signed) R. Macdonald, Lieut.-Colonel,

Military Secretary, and Deputy Adjutant- Gen. to
her Majesty's Forces, Bombay.

No. 2.

List of killed, wounded, and missing, in the army under the com-
mand of Lieuteiiant- General Sir John Keane, K.C.B. and
G.C.H., in the assault and capture of the fortress and citadel
of Ghuzni, on the 23rd of July, 1839 : —

General Staff — 1 colonel, 1 major, wounded.

3rd Troop Bombay Horse Artillery — 1 rank and file wounded.

4th Ditto ditto — 1 rank and file and 1 horse wounded.

Bengal Engineers — 3 rank and file killed, 2 rank and file wounded,
1 rank and file missing.

Bombay Engineers — 1 lieutenant, 1 rank and file, wounded.

2nd Bengal Light Cavalry — 1 rank and file wounded.

1st Bombay Light Cavalry — 1 havildar killed, 5 rank and file
and 7 horses wounded.

Her Majesty's 2nd Foot (or Queen's Royals) — 4 rank and file
Icilled; 2 captains, 4 lieutenants, 1 sergeant, and 26 rank and file
wounded.

Her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry — 1 rank and file killed ; 3 ser-
geants and 27 rank and file wounded.

APPENDIX. 165

Her Majesty's 1 7th Foot — 6 rank and file wounded.

Bengal European Regiment — 1 rank and file killed ; 1 lieutenant-
colonel, 1 major, 2 captains, 4 lieutenants, 1 ensign, 1 sergeant,
51 rank and file wounded.

16th Bengal N. I. — 1 havildar, 6 rank and file, wounded.

35th Ditto — 5 rank and file killed ; 1 havildar and 8 rank and
file wounded.

48th Ditto — 2 havildars killed, 5 rank and file wounded.

Total killed — 3 sergeants or havildars, 14 rank and file.

Total wounded — 1 colonel, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 2 majors, 4 cap-
tains, 8 lieutenants, 2 ensigns, 7 sergeants or havildars, 140 rank
and file, 8 horses.

Total missing — 1 rank and file.

Grand total on the 21st and 23rd of July, killed, wounded, and
missing — 191 officers and men, and 16 horses.

Names of Officers killed, wounded^ and missing.

General Staff — Brigadier Sale, her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry,
slightly ; Major Parsons, Deputy Commissary-General, slightly.

Bombay Engineers — Second Lieutenant Marriott, slightly.

Her Majesty's 2nd (or Queen's Royals) — Captain Raitt, slightly;
Captain Robinson, severely ; Lieutenant Yonge, severely ; Lieut.
Stisted, slightly ; Adjutant Simmons, slightly ; Quartermaster
Hadley, slightly.

Bengal European Regiment — Lieutenant-Colonel Orchard,

slightly; Major Warren, severely; Captains Hay and Taylor,

slightly; Lieutenant Broadfoot, slightly; Lieutenant Haslewood,

severely ; Lieutenants Fagan and Magnay, slightly ; Ensign Jacob,

slightly.

(Signed) R. Macdonald, Lieut.-Colonel,

Military Secretary, and Deputy Adjutant-Gen. to
her Majesty's Forces, Bombay.

I 2

166 APPENDIX.

GENERAL ORDER,

Bi/ his Excellency/ Lieutenant- Gen. Sir John Keane, Commander-
in-Chief <)/ the Army of the Indus.

Head-Quarters, Camp, Ghuzni, July 23rd, 1839.

Lieutenant-General Sir John Keane most heartily congratulates
the array he has the honour to command, on the signal triumph
they have this day obtained in the capture by storm of the strong
and important fortress of Ghuzni. His Excellency feels that he can
hardly do justice to the gallantry of the troops.

The scientific and successful manner in which the Cabool gate
(of great strength) was blown up by Captain Thomson, of the
Bengal Engineers, the chief of that department with this army, in
which he reports having been most ably assisted by Captain Peat,
of the Bombay Engineers, and Lieutenants Durand and Mac Leod,
of the Bengal Engineers, in the daring and dangerous enterprise of
laying down powder in the face of the enemy, and the strong fire
kept up on them, reflects the highest credit on their skill and cool
courage, and his Excellency begs Captain Thomson and officers
named will accept his cordial thanks. His acknowledgments are
also due to the other officers of the Engineers of both Presidencies,
and to the valuable corps of Sappers and Miners under them. This
opening having been made, although it was a difficult one to enter
by, from the rubbish in the way, the leading column, in a spirit of
true gallantry, directed and led by Brigadier Sale, gained a footing
inside the fortress, although opposed by the Afghan soldiers in very
great strength, and in the most desperate manner, with every kind
of weapon.

The advance, under Lieutenant-Colonel Dennie, of her Majesty's
13th, consisting of the light companies of her Majesty's 2nd and
17th, and of the Bengal European Regiment, with one company of
her Majesty's 13th ; and the leading column, consisting of her Ma-
jesty's 2nd Queen's, under Major Carruthers, and the Bengal

APPENDIX. 167

European Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Orchard, followed
by her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry, as they collected from the duty
of skirmishing, which ihey were directed to begin with, and by her
Majesty's I7th, under Lieutenant-Colonel Croker. To all these
officers, and to the other officers and gallant soldiers under their
orders, his Excellency's best thanks are tendered ; but, in par-
ticular, he feels deeptly indebted to Brigadier Sale, for the manner
in which he conducted the arduous duty entrusted to him in the
command of the storming party. His Excellency will not fail to
bring it to the notice of his Lordship the Governor-General ; and
he trusts the wound which Brigadier Sale has received is not of
that severe nature long to deprive this army of his services. Briga-
dier Sale reports that Captain Kershaw, of her Majesty's 13th Light
Infantry, rendered important assistance to him and to the service in
the storming.

Sir John Keane was happy, on this proud occasion, to have the
assistance of his old comrade, Major-General Sir Willoughby
Cotton, who, in command of the reserve, ably executed the instruc-
tions he had received, and was at the gate ready to enter after the
storming party had established themselves inside, when he moved
through it to sweep the ramparts, and to complete the subjugatiqu
of the place with the 16th Bengal Native Infantry, under Major
M'Laren ; Brigadier Roberts, with the 35th Native Infantry, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Monteath ; and the 48th Native Infantry, under
Lieutenant- Colonel Wheeler. His arrangements afterwards, in con-
tinuation of those Brigadier Sale had made for the security of the
magazine and other public stores, were such as meet his Excellency's
high approval.

The Commander-in-Chief acknowledges the services rendered
by Captain Hay, of the 35th Native Infantry, in command of three
companies of that regiment sent to the south side of the fortress to
begin with a false attack, and which was executed at the proper
time, and in a manner highly satisfactory to his Excellency.

Nothing could be more judicious than the manner in which Bri-

168 APPENDIX.

gadier Stevenson placed the artillery in position. Captain Grant^s
troop of Bengal Artillery, and the camel battery, under Captain
Abbott, both superintended by Major Pew; the two troops of
Bombay Horse Artillery, commanded by Captains Martin and Cot-
grave ; and Captain Lloyd's battery of Bombay Foot Artillery, all
opened upon the citadel and fortress in a manner v^^hich shook the
enemy, and did such execution as completely to paralyse and to
strike terror into them ; and his Excellency begs Brigadier Steven-
son, the officers, and men of that arm, will accept his thanks for
their good service.

The 19th Regiment Bombay Native Infantry, under the com-
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Stalker, having been placed in position
to watch any enemy that might appear on the Cabool road, or ap-
proach to attack the camp, had an important post assigned to them,
although, as it happened, no enemy made an attack upon them.

In sieges and stormings it does not fall to the lot of cavalry to
bear the same conspicuous part as to the other two arms of the pro-
fession. On this occasion. Sir John Keane is happy to have an op-
portunity of thanking Major-General Thackwell, and the officers and
men of the cavalry divisions under his orders, for having successfully
executed the directions given, to sweep the plain, and to intercept
fugitives of the enemy attempting to escape from the fort in any di-
rection around it; and had an enemy appeared for the relief of the
place during the storming, his Excellency is fully satisfied that the
different regiments of this fine arm would have distinguished them-
selves, and that the opportunity alone was wanting.

Major-General Willshire's division having been broken up for the
day, to be distributed as it was, the Major-General was desired to
be in attendance upon the Commander-in-Chief. To him and to
the officers of the Assistant Quartermaster- General's department of
the Bengal and Bombay army, his Excellency returns his warmest
thanks for the assistance they have afFoi;ded him.

The Commander-in-Chief feels — and in which feeling he is sure
he will be joined by the troops composing the Army of the Indus—

APPENDIX. 169

that, after the long and harassing marches they have had, and the
privations they have endured, this glorious achievement, and the
brilliant manner in which the troops have met and conquered their
enemy, reward them for it all. His Excellency will only add, that
no army that has ever been engaged in a campaign deserves more
credit than that which he has the honour to command, for patient,
orderly, and correct conduct, under all circumstances, and Sir John
Keane is proud to have the opportunity of thus publicly acknow-
ledging it.

By order of his Excellency Lieutenant-General Sir John Keane,
Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Indus.

(Signed) R. Macdonald, Lieut.-Colonel,

Military Secretary, and Deputy Adjutant-Gen. of
her Majesty's Forces, Bombay.

ENTRANCE INTO CABOOL.

(From the Delhi Gazette Extraordinary/, of Thursday^ Aug. 29.)

NOTIFICATION. SECRET DEPARTMENT.

Simla, August 26th, 1839.

The Governor-General of India publishes for general informa-
tion, the subjoined copy and extracts of despatches from his Excel-
lency the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Indus, and from
the Envoy and Minister at the Court of his Majesty Shah Shooja-
ool-Moolk, announcing the triumphant enti'y of the Shah into
Cabool, on the 7th instant.

In issuing this notification, the Governor-General cannot omit
the opportunity of offering to the officers and men composing the
army of the Indus, and to the distinguished leader by whom they
have been commanded, the cordial congratulations of the govern-
ment upon the happy result of a campaign, which, on the sole oc-
casion when resistance was opposed to them, has been gloriously
marked by victory, and in all the many difficulties of which the

170 APPENDIX.

character of a British army for gallantry, good conduct, and disci-
pline has been nobly maintained.

A salute of twenty-one guns will be fired on the receipt of
this intelligence at all the principal stations of the army in the
three Presidencies.

By order of the Right Hon. the Governor-General of India,

T. H. Maddock,

Officiating Secretary to the Government of

India, with the Governor-General.

(Copy.)
TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD AUCKLAND^ G.C.B., ETC.

My Lor"^, — We have the honour to acquaint your Lordship that
the army marched from Ghuzni, en route to Cabool, in two columns,
on the 30th and 31st ult., his Majesty Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk, with
his own troops, forming part of the second column.

On the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief with the first column,
at Hyde Khail, on the 1st inst., information reached him, and the
same reached the Envoy and Minister at Huft Assaya, that Dost
Mahomed, with his army and artillery, were advancing from Cabool,
and would probably take up a position at Urghundee or Midan,
(the former twenty-four, the latter thirty-six miles from Cabool.)
Upon this it was arranged that his Majesty, with the second column,
under Major-General Willshire, should join the first column here,
and advance together to attack Dost Mahomed, whose son, Mahomed
Akhbar, had been recalled from Jellahabad, with the troops guard-
ing the Khyber Pass, and had formed a junction with his father ;
their joint forces, according to our information, amounting to about
13,000 men.

Every arrangement was made for the King and the army match-
ing in a body from here to-morrow ; but in the course of the night,
messengers arrived, and since (this morning) a great many chiefs

APPENDIX. 171

and their followers, announcing the dissolution of Dost Mahomed's
army, by the refusal of a great part to advance against us with him,
and that he had in consequence fled, with a party of 300 horsemen,
ill the direction of Bamian, leaving his guns behind him, in position,
as they were placed at Urghundee.

His Majesty Shah Shooja has sent forward a confidential officer,
with whom has been associated Major Cureton, of her Majesty's
16th Lancers, taking with him a party of 200 men and an officer of
artillery, to proceed direct to take possession of those guns, and
afterwards such other guns and public stores as may be found in
Cabool and the Balla Hissar, in the name of, and for his Majesty
Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk, and the King's order will be carried by his
own officer with this party, for preserving the tranquillity of the city
of Cabool.

A strong party has been detached in pursuit of Dost Mahomed,
under some of our most active officers. We continue our march
upon Cabool to-morrow, and will reach it on the third day.

We have, &c.,

(Signed)

John Keane, Lieut.-General

Commander-in-Chief.

(Signed)

W. H. Macnaghten,

Envoy and Minister.

Extract from a Letter from his Excellency Lieutenant- General
Sir John Keane, K.C.B. and G.C.H., dated Head- Quarters,
Camp, Cabool, August 8th, 1839 ■•—

^' It gives me infinite pleasure to be able to address my despatch
to your Lordship from this capital, the vicinity of which his Majesty
Shah Shooja-ool-Mcolk and the army under my command reached
the day before yesterday. The King entered his capital yesterday
afternoon, accompanied by the British Envoy and Minister and
the gentlemen of the mission, and by myself, the general and staff

I 3

172 APPENDIX.

officers of this army, and escorted by a squadron of her Majesty's
4th Light Dragoons, and one of her Majesty's 16th Lancers, with
Captain Martin's troop of Horse Artillery. His Majesty had ex-
pressed a wish that British troops should be present on the occasion,
and a very small party only of his own Hindostanee and Afghan
troops. After the animating scene of traversing the streets, and
reaching the palace in the Bala Hissar, a royal salute was fired, and
an additional salvo in the Afghan style, from small guns, resembling
wall-pieces, named gingalls, and carried on camels. We heartily
congratulated his Majesty on being in possession of the throne
and kingdom of his ancestors, and upon the overthrow of his
enemies ; and after taking leave of his Majesty, we returned to
our camp.

" I trust we have thus accomplished all the objects which your
Lordship had in contemplation when you planned and formed the
army of the Indus, and the expedition into Afghanistan.

*' The conduct of the army, both European and native, which
your Lordship did me the honour to place under my orders, has been
admirable throughout, and, notwithstanding the severe marching
and privations they have gone through, their appearance and disci-
pline have suffered nothing, and the opportunity afforded them at
Ghuzni of meeting and conquering their enemy has added greatly
to their good spirits.

" The joint despatch addressed by Mr Macnaghten and myself
to your Lordship, on the 3rd instant, from Shikarbad, will have in-
formed you that at the moment we had made every preparation to
attack (on the following day) Dost Mahomed Khan, in his position
at Urghundee, where, after his son, Mahomed Akhbar, had joined
him from Jellahabad, he had an army amounting to 13,000 men,
well armed and appointed, and thirty pieces of artillery, we sud-
denly learned that he abandoned them all, and fled, with a party
of horsemen, on the road to Bamian, leaving his guns in position, as
be had placed them to receive our attack.

" It appears that a great part of his army, which was hourly be-

APPENDIX. 173

coming disorganized, refused to stand by him in the position to
receive our attack, and that it soon became in a state of dissolution.
The great bulk immediately came over to Shah Shooja, tendering
their allegiance, and I believe his Majesty will take most of them
into his pay.

" It seems that the news of the quick and determined manner in
which we took their stronghold, Ghuzni, had such an effect upon
the population of Cabool, and perhaps also upon the enemy's army,
that Dost Mahomed from that moment began to lose hope of
retaining his rule, for even a short time longer, and sent off his
family and valuable property towards Bamian ; but marched out of
Cabool, with his army and artillery, keeping a bold front towards us
until the evening of the 2nd, when all his hopes were at an end by a
division in his own camp, and one part of his army abandoning
him. So precipitate was his flight, that he left in position his guns,
with their ammunition and wagons, and the greater part of the
cattle by which they were drawn. Major Cureton, of her Majesty's
16th Lancers, with his party of 200 men, pushed forward, on the
3rd, and took possession of those guns, &c. There were twenty-
three brass guns in position, and loaded ; two more at a little dis-
tance, which they attempted to take away ; and since then, three
more abandoned, still further off on the Bamian road ; thus leaving
in our possession twenty-eight pieces of cannon, with all the mate-
riel belonging to them, which are now handed over to Shah Shooja-
ool-Moolk."

Extract from a Letter from W. H. Macnaghten, Esq., Envoy
and Minister to the Court of Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk, dated
Cabool, 9th of August, 1839 :—

" By a letter signed jointly by his Excellency Lieu tenant-General
-Sir John Keane and myself, dated the 3rd inst., the Right Hon.
the Governor-General was apprised of the flight of Dost Mahomed
Khan.

"The ex-chief was not accompanied by any person of con?e-

174 APPENDIX.

quence, and his followers are said to have been reduced to below
the number of 100 on the day of his departure. In the progress of
Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk towards Cabool, his Majesty was joined by
every person of rank and influence in the country, and he made his
triumphal entry into the city on the evening of the 7th instant. His
Majesty has taken up his residence in the Bala Hissar, where he
has required the British mission to remain for the present/'

{From the Bombay Government Gazette Extraordinary of
August 29th.)

Simla, August 26th, 1839-

A letter from Shikarbad, of August 3rd, states —

" The chiefs with their military followers are flocking in by
thousands. No better commentary on the feeling regarding Dost
Mahomed Khan could be given than the fact of his having been able
to induce only 300 out of 12,000 men to accompany him ; Capt.
Outram and seven other officers accompany the pursuing party."

The dates from the army at Cabool are to August the 9th. The
letters from thence give the following intelligence : —

" The Shah's reception at this place was equally gratifying as at
Candahar, though the enthusiasm was not so boisterous.

" We arrived here yesterday, and, I am happy to say, with a
sufficient stock of supplies in our Godown to render us quite inde-
pendent of any foreign purchases for the next ten days, which will
keep down prices, and save us from the extravagant rates which we
were obliged to purchase at when we reached Candahar. I have
not been to the city yet, but am told it is far superior to Candahar.
Our people are now very well off; for the increased rations, and
abundance and cheapness of grain as we came along, have left them
nothing to want or wish for."

Extract of a further letter from Shikarbad, August 3rd : —

" The Afghans have not yet recovered from their astonishment at
the rapidity with which Ghuzni fell into our hands, nor up to this
moment will they believe how it was effected.

APPENDIX. 175

'' This morning we received intelligence of Dost Mahomed's
flight towards Bamian ; for several days past many of his former
adherents had been joining the King. Since this morning, thou,
sands of Afghans have been coming in to tender their allegiance to
his Majesty, who is in the greatest spirits at this pacific termination
to the campaign, and says that God has now granted all his wishes,
— Cabool is at hand !

" We are all delighted at it. Few armies have made so long a
march in the same time that the army of the Indus has done. The
country is every day improving. The road to Candahar from
where v^^e are now encamped lies in a continued valley seldom
stretching in width above two miles; cultivation on each side of the
road, and numberless villages nestling under the hills. Since we
left Ghuzni, the fruits have assumed a very fine appearance ; the
grapes, plums, and apples have become very large, like their bre-
thren of Europe. The climate now is very fine. The rapid Log-
hurd river is flowing close to our encampments, and the European
soldiers and officers are amusing themselves with fishing in it. We
are beginning to get vegetables again. I passed this morning
through fields of beans, but only in flower. Our attention must be
turned to the cultivation of potatoes ; they grow in quantities in
Persia, and this seems to be just the country for them. To revert
from small things to great : a party has just been detached towards
Bamian with the view of cutting off Dost Mahomed. It would be
a great thing to catch him. The party consists chiefly of Afghans,
headed by Hajee Khan Kaukur, and about eight or ten British
officers have been sent with it, to prevent the Afghans from eom-
mittuig excesses."

176 APPENDIX.

FROM THE

LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY,

Thursday, Feb. \Ztli.

INDIA BOARD, Feb. 13th.

A DESPATCH has been this day received at the East India House,
addressed by the Governor-General of India to the Secret Com-
mittee of the East India Company, of which the following is a

copy : —

" Camp at Bhurtpore, Dec. 12th, 1839.

" I do myself the honour to forward copies of the despatches
noted in the margin, relative to the assault and capture of the fort
of Kelat.

'* 2. The decision, the great military skill, and excellent dispo-
sitions of Major-General Willshire, in conducting the operations
against Kelat, appear to me deserving the highest commendation.
The gallantry, steadiness, and soldier-like bearing of the troops
under his command rendered his plans of action completely suc-
cessful ; thereby again crowning our arras across the Indus with
signal victory.

" 3. I need not expatiate on the importance of this achievement,
from which the best effects must be derived, not only in the vindi-
cation ofournational honour, but also in confirming the security of
intercourse between Sinde and Afghanistan, and in promoting the
safety and tranquillity of the restored monarchy ; but I would not
omit to point out that the conduct on this occasion of Major-General
Willshire, and of the officers and men under his command, (in-
cluding the 31st regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, which had not
been employed in the previous active operations of the campaign,)
have entitled them to more prominent notice that I was able to give
them in my general order of November 18th ; and in recommend-

APPENDIX. 177

ing these valuable services to the applause of the committee, I trust
that I shall not be considered as going beyond my proper province
in stating an earnest hope that the conduct of Major-General Will-
shire in the direction of the operations w\\\ not fail to elicit the ap-
probation of her Majesty's Government. — I have, &c.

" Auckland."

GENERAL ORDERS,
By the Governor- General of India.

Camp Doothanee, December 4th, 1839.
The many outrages and murders committed, in attacks on the
followers of the army of the Indus, by the plundering tribes in the
neighbourhood of the Bolan Pass, at the instigation of their chief,
Meer Mehrab Khan, of Kelat, at a time when he was professing
friendship for the British Government, and negotiating a treaty with
its representatives, having compelled the government to direct a
detachment of the army to proceed to Kelat for the exaction of re-
tribution from that chieftain, and for the execution of such arrange-
ments as would establish future security in that quarter, a force,
under the orders of Major-General Willshire, C.B., was employed
on this service; and the Right Hon. the Governor-General of India
having this day received that officer's report of the successful ac-
complishment of the objects intrusted to him, has been pleased to
direct that the following copy of his despatch, dated the 14th
ultimo, be published for general information.

The Governor-General is happy to avail himself of this oppor-
tunity to record his high admiration of the signal gallantry and
spirit of the troops engaged on this occasion, and offers, on the part
of the government, his best thanks to Major-General Willshire, and
to the officers and men who served under him.

By command of the Governor-General,
T. H. Maddock,
Officiating Secretary to the Government of
India, with the Governor- General.

178 APPENDIX.

FROM MAJOR-GENERAL SIR THOMAS WILLSHIRE, K.C.B.,
TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA.

Camp, nearKelat, Nov. 14th, 1839.

My Lord, — In obedience to the joint instructions furnished to
me by his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the
Indus, and the Envoy and Minister to his Majesty Shah Shooja,
under date Cabool, the 17th of September, 1839, deputing to me
the duty of deposing Mehrab Khan of Kelat, in consequence of the
avowed hostility of that chief to the British nation during the pre-
sent campaign, I have the honour to report, that on my arrival at
Quettah, on the 31st ultimo, I communicated with Captain Bean,
the political agent in Shawl, and arranged with him the best means
of giving effect to the orders I had received.

In consequence of the want of public carriage, and the limited
quantity of commissariat supplies at Quettah, as well as the reported
want of forage on the route to Kelat, I was obliged to despatch to
Cutch Gundava the whole of the cavalry and the greater portion of
the artillery, taking with me only the troops noted in the margin,*
and leaving Quettah oa the 3rd instant.

During the march, the communications received from Mehrab
Khan were, so far from acceding to the terms offered, that he
threatened resistance if the troops approached his capital. I there-
fore proceeded, and arrived at the village of Giranee, within eight
miles of Kelat, on the 12 th instant.

Marching thence the following morning, a body of horse were
perceived on the right of the road, which commenced firing on the
advanced guard, commanded by Major Pennycuick, her Majesty's
17th regiment, as the column advanced, and the skirmishing be-
tween them continued until we came in sight of Kelat, rather less
than a mile distant.

* Two guns Bombay Horse Artillery; four guns Shah's ditto; two Res-
salaghs Local Horse ; Queen's Royals; Her Majesty's I7th regiment ^ 31st
regiment Bengal Native Infantry; Bombay Engineers.

APPENDIX. 179

T now discovered that three heights on the north-west face of the
fort, and parallel to the north, were covered with infantry, with five
guns in position, protected by small parapet walls.

Captain Peat, chief engineer, immediately reconnoitered ; and
having reported that nothing could be done until those heights were
in our possession, I decided upon at once storming them simul-
taneously, and, if practicable, entering the fort with the fugitives, as
the gate in the northern face was occasionally opened to keep up
the communication between the fort and the heights.

To effect this object I detached a company from each of the
European regiments from the advanced guard with Major Penny-
cuick, her Majesty's 17th regiment, for the purpose of occupying
the gardens and enclosures to the north-east of the town, and two
more companies in the plain, midway between them and the column ;
at the same time I ordered three columns of attack to be formed,
composed of four companies from each corps, under their respective
commanding officers, Major Carruthers, of the Queen's, Lieutenant-
Colonel Croker, her Majesty's 17th regiment, and Major Western,
31st Bengal Native Infantry, the whole under the command of
Brigadier Baumgardt, the remainder of the regiments forming three
columns of reserve, under my own direction, to move in support.

A hill being allotted to each column. Brigadier Stevenson, com-
manding the artillery, moved quickly forward in front towards the
base of the heights, and when v/ithin the required range opened fire
upon the infantry and guns, under cover of which the columns
moved steadily on, and commenced the ascent for the purpose of
carrying the heights, exposed to the fire of the enemy's guns, which
had commenced while the columns of attack were forming.

Before the columns reached their respective summits of the hills,
the enemy, overpowered by the superior and well-directed fire of
our artillery, had abandoned them, attempting to carry off their
guns, but which they were unable to do. At this moment, it
appearing to me the opportunity offered for the troops to get in with
the fugitives, and if possible gain possession of the gate of the for-
tress, I despatched orders to the Queen's Royal and 17th Regiments

180 APPENDIX.

to make a rush from the heights for that purpose, following myself
to the summit of the nearest, to observe the result. At this moment,
the four companies on my left, which had been detached to the
gardens and plain, seeing the chance that offered of entering the
fort, moved rapidly forward from their respective points towards the
gateway, under a heavy and well-directed fire from the walls of the
fort and citadel, which were thronged by the enemy.

The gate having been closed before the troops moving towards it
could effect the desired object, and the garrison strengthened by the
enemy driven from the heights, they were compelled to cover them-
selves, as far as practicable, behind some walls and ruined buildings
to the right and left of it, while Brigadier Stevenson, having as-
cended the heights with the artillery, opened two guns, under the
command of Lieutenant Foster, Bombay Horse Artillery, upon the
defences above the gate and its vicinity, while the fire of two others,
commanded by Lieutenant Cowper, Shah's Artillery, was directed
against the gate itself; the remaining two, with Lieutenant Creed,
being sent round to the road on the left hand, leading directly up to
the gate, and when within two hundred yards, commenced fire, for
the purpose of completing in blowing it open, and after a few
rounds, they succeeded in knocking in one half of it. On observing
this, I rode down the hill towards the gate, pointing to it, thereby
announcing to the troops it was open. They instantly rose from
their cover and rushed in. Those under the command of Major
Pennycuick, being the nearest, were the first to gain the gate,
headed by that officer, the whole of the storming columns from the
three regiments rapidly following and gaining an entrance, as quick
as it was possible to do so, under a heavy fire from the works and
from the interior, the enemy making a most gallant and determined
resistance, disputing every inch of ground up to the walls of the
inner citadel.

At this time I directed the reserve column to be brought near the
gate, and detached one company of the 17th Regiment, under Cap-
tain Darley, to the western side of the fort, followed by a portion of
the 31st Bengal Native Infantry, commanded by Major Western,

APPENDIX. 181

conducted by Captain Outram, acting as my extra Aide-de-Camp,
for the purpose of securing the heights, under which the southern
angle is situated, and intercepting any of the garrison escaping
from that side ; having driven off the enemy from the heights above,
the united detachments then descended to the gate of the fort below,
and forced it open before the garrison (who closed it as they saw
the troops approach) had time to secure it.

When the party was detached by the western face, I also sent two
companies from the reserve of the 17th, under Major I)eshon,and
two guns of the Shah's artillery, under the command of Lieutenant
Creed, Bombay Artillery, by the eastern to the southern face, for
the purpose of blowing open the gate above alluded to, had it been
necessary, as well as the gate of the inner citadel ; the infantry join-
ing the other detachments, making their way through the town in
the direction of the citadel.

After some delay, the troops that held possession of the town at
length succeeded in forcing an entrance into the citadel, where a
desperate resistance was made by Mehrab Khan, at the head of his
people ; he himself, with many of his principal chiefs, being killed
sword in hand. Several others, however, kept up a fire upon
our troops from detached buildings difficult of access, and it was not
until late in the afternoon, that those that survived were induced to
give themselves up on a promise of their lives being spared.

From every account, I have reason to believe the garrison con-
sisted of upwards of 2000 fighting men, and that the son of Mehrab
Khan had been expected to join him from Nerosky, with a further
reinforcement ; the enclosed return will shew the strength of the
force under my command present at the capture.

The defences of the fort, as in the case of Ghuzni, far exceeded in
strength what I had been led to suppose from previous report, and
the towering height of the inner citadel was most formidable, both
in appearance and reality.

I lament to say that the loss of killed and wounded on our side
has been severe, as will be seen by the accompanying return ; that
on the part of the enemy must have been great, but the exact num-

182 APPENDIX.

ber I have not been able to ascertain. Several hundreds of prisoners
were taken, from whom the political agent has selected those he
considers it necessary for the present to retain in confinement ; the
remainder have been liberated.

It is quite impossible for me sufficiently to express my admiration
of the gallant and steady conduct of the officers and men upon this
occasion ; but the fact of less than an hour having elapsed from the
formation of the columns for the attack to the period of the troops
being within the fort, and this performed in the open day, and in
the face of an enemy so very superior in numbers, and so perfectly
prepared for resistance, will, I trust, convince your Lordship how
deserving the officers and troops are of my warmest thanks, and of
the highest praise that can be bestowed.

To Brigadier Baumgardt, commanding the storming column, my
best thanks are due, and he reports that Captain Willie, acting As-
sistant Adjutant-General, and Captain Gilland, his aide-de-camp,
ably assisted him, and zealously performed their duties; also to
Brigadier Stevenson, commanding the artillery, and Lieutenants
Forster and Cowper, respectively in charge of the Bombay and
Shah's artillery. I feel greatly indebted for the steady and scien-
tific manner in which the service of dislodging the enemy from
the heights, and afterwards effecting an entrance into the fort, was
performed. The Brigadier has brought to my notice the assistance
he received from Captain Coghlan, his brigade-major. Lieutenant
Woosnara, his aide-de-camp, and Lieutenant Creed, when in battery
yesterday.

To Lieutenant-Colonel Croker, commanding her Majesty's 17th
Regiment; Major Carruthers, commanding the Queen's Royals;
Major Western, commanding the Bengal 31st Native Infantry, I
feel highly indebted for the manner in which they conducted their
respective columns to the attack of the heights, and afterwards to
the assault of the town, as well as to Major Pennycuick, of the
17th, who led the advance-guard companies to the same point.

To Captain Peat, chief engineer, and to the officers and men of
the Engineer Corps, my acknowledgments are due; to Major Neil

APPENDIX. 183

Campbell, Acting Quartermaster-General of the Bombay army ; to
Captain Hagart, Acting Deputy Adjutant-General ; and to Lieutenant
Ramsay, acting Assistant Quartermaster-General, my best thanks
are due for the able assistance afforded me by their services.

From my Aides-de-camp, Captain Robinson and Lieutenant
Halket, as well as from Captain Outram, who volunteered his ser-
vices on my personal staff, I received the utmost assistance; and to
the latter officer I feel greatly indebted for the zeal and ability with
which he has performed various duties that I have required of him,
upon other occasions, as well as the present.

It is with much pleasure that I state the great assistance I have
received from Captain Bean in obtaining supplies.

T. WiLLSHIRE,
Major-Gen., Commanding Bombay Column,
Army of the Indus.

Return of Casualties in the army under the command of Major'
General Willshire, C.B., employed at the storming of Kelat,
on the I3th of November, 1839 : —

1st Troop of Cabool Artillery — 2 rank and file, 6 horses,
wounded.

Gun Lancers attached to ditto — 1 rank and file, 1 horse,
wounded ; 1 corporal, since dead.

Her Majesty's 2nd, or Queen's Royal Regiment — 1 lieutenant,
21 rank and file, killed; 2 captains, 2 lieutenants, 1 adjutant,
2 sergeants, 40 rank and file, 1 horse, wounded.

H^r Majesty's 17th Regiment — 6 rank and file, killed; 1 cap-
tain, 3 sergeants, 29 rank and file, wounded.

31st Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry — 1 subadar, 2 rank
and file, killed ; 1 captain, 1 ensign, 2 jemadars, 2 sergeants, 1
drummer, 14 rank and file, 1 bheestie, wounded.

Sappers and Miners and Pioneers — 1 sergeant wounded.

4th Bengal Local Horse — 1 rank and file wounded.

184 APPENDIX.

Total — 1 lieutenant, 1 subadar, 29 rank and file, killed ; 4 cap-
tains, 2 lieutenants, 1 ensign, I adjutant, 2 jemadars, 8 sergeants,
1 drummer, 87 rank and file, 1 bheestie, 7 horses, wounded.

Total killed and wounded — 138.

Natnes of Officers killed and wounded.

Killed — Her Majesty's 2nd or Queen's Royal Regiment — Lieu-
tenant T. Gravatt.

Wounded— Her Majesty's 2nd, or Queen's Royal Regiment —
Captain W. M. Lyster, Captain T. Sealy, Lieutenant T. W. E.
Holdsworth, severely; Lieutenant D. J, Dickenson, slightly; Ad-
jutant J. E. Simmons, severely.

Her Majesty's 17th Regiment — Captain L. C. Bourchier,
severely .

3lst Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry ^ Captain Saurin,

slightly ; Ensign Hopper, severely.

C. Hagart, Captain,
Acting Deputy Adjutant-Gen. Bombay-
Column, Army of the Indus.

State of the Corps engaged at the storming of Kelat, on the I3tk

of November, 1839, under the command of Major- General

Willshire, C.B.

Camp at Kelat, November 13th, 1839.

Staff— 1 major-general, 2 brigadiers, 5 aides-de-camp, 1 acting
deputy-adjutant-general, 1 acting quartermaster-general, 1 deputy
assistant-quartermaster-general, 2 brigade-majors, 1 sub-assistant
commissary-general.

Detachment 3rd Troop Horse Artillery — 2 lieutenants, 2 ser-
geants, 36 rank and file.

1st Troop Cabool Artillery — 1 lieutenant, 8 sergeants, 1 drum-
mer, 1 ftirrier, 58 rank and file.

H^r Majesty's 2nd, or Queen's Royal Regiment — 1 major, 3
captains, 7 lieutenants, 1 ensign, 1 adjutant, 31 Serjeants, 10
drummers, 290 rank and file.

APPENDIX. 185

Her Majesty's 17th Regiment — 1 lieutenant-colonel, 2 majors,
4 captains, 13 lieutenants, 2 ensigns, 1 quartermaster, 1 surgeon,
29 sergeants, 9 drummers, 338 rank and file.

31st Regiment Bengal Native Infantry — 1 major, 2 captains,
3 lieutenants, 2 ensigns, 1 adjutant, 1 quartermaster, 1 surgeon,
12 native officers, 30 sergeants, 14 drummers, 329 rank and file.

Sappers and Miners and Pioneers — 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, 1
assistant surgeon, 3 native officers, J sub-conductor, 7 sergeants,
3 drummers, 117 rank and file.

Total — 1 major-general, 2 brigadiers, 5 aides-de-camp, 1 acting
deputy adjutant-general, 1 acting quartermaster-general, 1 deputy
assistant-quartermaster-general, 2 brigade-majors, 1 sub-assistant-
commissary-general, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 4 majors, 10 captains, 27
lieutenants, 5 ensigns, 2 adjutants, 2 quartermasters, 2 surgeons,
1 assistant-surgeon, 15 native officers, 1 sub-conductor, 107 ser-
geants, 37 drummers, 1 farrier, 1,166 rank and file.

The Sappers and Miners and Pioneers were not engaged until the

gate was taken.

C. Hag ART, Captain,
Acting Deputy Adjutant-Gen., Bombay
Column, Army of the Indus.

Note — Two russalas of the Bengal Local Horse remained in
charge of the baggage during the attack.

List of Beloochee Sirdars killed in the assault of Kelat, on the

IZthof Novetnber, 1839 : —
Meer Mehrab Khan, Chief of Kelat.
Meer Wullee Mahomed, the Muengul Sirdar of Wudd.
Abdool Kurreem, Ruhsanee Sirdar.
Dad Kurreen, Shahwanee Sirdar.

Mahomed Ruzza, nephew of the Vizier Mahomed Hoosein.
Khysur Khan, Ahsehrie Sirdar.
Dewan Bucha Mull, Financial Minister.
Noor Mahomed and Taj Mahomed, Shagassa Sirdars.

186 APPENDIX.

Prisoners^

Mahomed Hoossein, Vizier.

Moola Ruheem Dad, ex-Naib of Shawl ; with several others of

inferior rank.

J. D. D. Dean, Political Agent.

CAPTURE OF THE FORT AND CITADEL OF KELAT.

Political Department, Fort William, Dec. 14, 1839.

The Hon. the President in Council has much satisfaction in pub-
lishing the following despatch from Major-General Willshire, C.B.,
with the returns annexed to it, reporting the capture of the fort and
citadel of Kelat, by storm, on the 13th of November, which brilliant
achievement was effected by a force consisting of only 1200 men,
with the loss, his Honour in Council grieves to say, of 138 killed
and wounded, including amongst the former one officer. Lieutenant
Gravatt, of her Majesty's 2nd, or Queen's Regiment, and amongst
the latter, eight officers.

Meer Mehrab Khan himself, and eight other sirdars, w^ere
amongst the slain of the enemy.

The general order issued by the Right Hon. the Governor-General,
on the receipt of this intelligence, is republished, and his Honour in
Council unites with his Lordship in recording his high admiration
of the signal gallantry and spirit of the troops engaged, and in
offering his thanks to Major-General Willshire, and to the officers
and men who served under him on this occasion.

A royal salute will be fired from the ramparts of Fort William,
at noon this day, in honour of the event.

By order of the Hon. the President in Council,

H. T. Prinsep,
Secretary to the Government of India.

THOMAS C. SAVILL,

PRINTER,

107, St. Martin's Lane, Charing Cross.

Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proce
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide
Treatment Date: Jan. 2003

PreservationTechnologi

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATI

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive
Cranberry Township, PA 16066